Reading: Transcend Corporate announces sale of AlwaysON Group

The technology team at Transcend Corporate, led by partner Steve Bartlett, has announced the sale of AlwaysON Group (AOG) to Cloud Direct, for an undisclosed sum. Transcend acted as lead advisers to the shareholders of AOG which was owned by private equity firms Foresight Group and Mobeus Equity Partners, together with management and a group of private investors.

AOG, based in Bracknell, is a £5.5 million revenue provider of unified-communications, data-communication and managed-data services to UK headquartered organisations, primarily mid-sized enterprises. AOG also provides network and connectivity services and application hosting services. Its managed-data services include net backup and recovery services (on-premise and cloud); data archiving; and data storage management.

Cloud Direct is a provider of cloud-based managed-IT service to SMEs, encompassing unified communications, cloud backup, disaster recovery, hosted VOIP telephony, Office 365 and cloud hosting, and infrastructure.

Martin Peck, executive chairman of AOG, said: “The current investors built AOG up by merging two complementary IT services businesses. Having completed this process, the time was right for a new owner to take the business forward.”

Steve Bartlett, Transcend partner, commented: “We are pleased to have helped Foresight, Mobeus and management with their exit from AOG. This is a sector we know well, with a lot of M&A activity. Cloud Direct were an obviously strong fit with AOG and we are sure the business will flourish under their ownership.”

Brett Raynes, CEO of Cloud Direct, said: “Since 2003, we’ve been helping organisations grow by migrating them to the cloud – quickly and securely. Moving forward, AOG’s capabilities will be critical to that as we drive better business continuity, people productivity and infrastructure. Their people and customers are a great asset to our business at this exciting time of high growth. We’ll slowly integrate the business into the Cloud Direct clan as we continue to support organic growth with an ambitious acquisition strategy.”