Mayfair Equity Partners has acquired a majority stake in GCI in a deal that includes the formation of a new £60m acquisition fund. Mayfair has purchased the majority of the equity held by Chairman Wayne Martin who remains on the GCI board, and the full minority stake held by BGF which backed the business since 2012.
GCI's beefed up acquisition strategy builds on a two year shopping spree including the purchases of Packet Media, Fusion Media Networks, Outsourcery, Freedom Communications and Blue Chip Data Systems, taking the company's revenues to circa £100m.
The business has also witnessed organic growth across its 4,000 customer base.
GCI CEO Adrian Thirkill said: "Our immediate objective is to continue to fully integrate what we have and in the coming months we will see all GCI group companies operating under one brand with common systems and processes.
"The new £60m-plus fund will enable us to make strategic acquisitions over the coming months and years to add more value to our customers."
GCI CFO Mark Allen added: "The deal rewards Wayne and BGF for their long-term support of the company but equally means that we can continue to invest in building our headcount, systems and customer support."
According to Mayfair Partner Waqqas Ahmad the UK IT services sector is becoming increasingly attractive as customers' dependence on suppliers increases through outsourcing mission critical systems and IT infrastructure.
"With our support and capital, we see GCI quickly becoming one of the largest ICT suppliers in the UK, said Ahmad."