Newbury: BCMS advises NEG sale to Daisy Group

Newbury-based international mergers and acquisitions specialist BCMS Corporate has answered the call from Network Europe Group (NEG) by selling the telephone specialist to Daisy Group plc in a £23.5m deal.

Formed in 1992, NEG has become best known for its product ‘Surgery Line’, a revolutionary enhanced communications service, designed specifically for GP surgeries and general practices, which now is now used by 18% of all practices in the UK. Currently some 4.5 million patients use the Surgery Line service every month to book appointments, collect test results and a multitude of other services.

NEG was a Tech Track 100 company in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and has gone from strength to strength over the period. Since then, Dean Rayment, Scott Russell and Craig Hughs, three directors on the Board of NEG, have been working to deliver an exit strategy for the business, including a restructuring of the Group last year and considating four preiovusly standalone profit centres into Network Europe Group. BCMS Corporate was appointed earlier this year to identify a suitable strategic buyer.

The new owner of the 38-strong company, Daisy Group plc, is a leading provider of unified business communications services to more than 75,000 customers in the SME and mid-market and has more than 1,250 emplyees UK-wide.

Andy Denny, deal leader at BCMS Corporate, said: “We’re extremely pleased to help the shareholders of Network Europe Group realise its aim of selling NEG and, in so doing, not only secure the long-term sustainability of the company but also see Surgery Line realise its potential as the enhanced telephony solution for UK GP surgeries, providing a far greater GP access for the general public.”

Dean Rayment, managing director of NEG, added: “We are extremely grateful to the team at BCMS Corporate for their support throughout this entire process. Selling a business is never easy but in Andy Denny, Simon Glover and the rest of the BCMS Corporate team, we have felt in extremely capable hands and believe that with the support of Daisy Group, NEG will continue to lead the way in its field.”