In February 2014 wholesale comms provider Entanet received an initial investment boost to the tune of £6 million from mid-market equity investor Mobeus Equity Partners to support the £14 million management buyout led by new CEO Elsa Chen. Here, Chen provides an update on developments so far.
With Mobeus' support Chen has taken the helm and wasted no time in implementing a strategy that puts the concept of 'true partnership' at the heart of the business. Turning vision into reality, she has already advanced plans to build a solid loyal partner channel that is capable of driving steady, stable and sustainable growth over the long-term. "The investment will also support the continuing investment we are making in our network and in developing and delivering new services that enable our partners to offer more choice and value to the widest range of customers," stated Chen.
As part of the transaction Mobeus introduced Non-Executive Director Richard Atkins as investing Chairman to advise Entanet at a strategic level. He has significant telecoms experience and a strong track record in delivering growth in private equity backed businesses. Atkins was previously Non-Executive Director of Global Crossing UK, Morse and MessageLabs Group. Building on Atkins' strategic expertise the MBO has also empowered Entanet with a much greater investment capability. "We've already committed around £1 million of investment in our network, but it doesn't stop there," explained Chen. "We have a great appetite to further enhance the technologies, services and platforms that we offer to the channel.
"The MBO has also accelerated our large, ongoing initiative to significantly overhaul and redevelop Entanet's back-end systems. This is creating a future-proof and resilient platform from which all of our operational and commercial systems run, and which support both our internal and partner facing interfaces. It's great news for our channel partners."
The investment is not confined to Entanet's infrastructure and systems, substantial resources have also been made available for staff development. "We're also focusing on our most important asset - our staff," added Chen. "We're firm believers that quality people deliver a quality service and that happy people create happy customers. It's about capability and attitude. Entanet doesn't stop at winning the customer, we aim to win the customer's heart. We are taking this seriously and have recruited a new Head of Human Resources to help us continue to develop the talent and culture in the business. At the same time we've acquired more floor space at our Telford offices and are currently in the middle of a major refurbishment to provide a spacious, modern, calm and professional environment for our staff."
Entanet's core strength is data connectivity and Chen confirmed plans to build additional complementary services based on this key capability. "Connectivity is a delivery vehicle for so many business applications and we'd like to help our channel to capture all of the opportunities that derive from being data experts," she added. "We will remain a channel-focused wholesale provider that's committed to nurturing and developing our channel partners and helping them grow and succeed.
"The last six months have proved to our channel that the promises we made to them when we announced the MBO have been kept. It's inevitable that sometimes news like this can make customers nervous. However, there's been minimum disruption and our customers continue to enjoy the prompt and flexible channel support that Entanet is known for.
"We remain a wholesale, channel focused, business and if our channel weren't happy we wouldn't be in business for long. Our performance in this first half of the year far exceeded our forecast and expectations and this is encouraging evidence, not only of Entanet's own performance, but also of how well our customers received the MBO and their continued confidence in Entanet."
Chen believes that Entanet's policy for establishing true partnerships is a stand-out factor that will ensure it gets the vote over the long-term. "We aim to truly partner rather than just be another supplier," she said. "We genuinely care about our partners and how they want to work with us. That's why we have built high levels of flexibility and support to enable partners to create differentiation within this highly competitive market.
"We work alongside resellers, providing support, training and guidance, as and when it's required and on a case-by-case basis, to help them achieve growth and success. Our basic philosophy is that without successful channel partners we cannot be successful. That's why we always go the extra mile."
Mobeus Equity Partners Non-Executive Director Clive Austin said: "I am genuinely delighted to be working with such an enthusiastic team. Entanet is a great business and has made a superb start. We're pleased with Entanet's performance over the last six months, and happy to see that the company is comfortably achieving, and in many cases exceeding, the targets and objectives we initially outlined at the beginning of the relationship. It's great to work with a company with such clarity and focus in its mission."