10 01732 759725 RESELLER NEWS continued... Shire Leasing launches technology finance division Shire Leasing has launched a dedicated Technology Finance division to gives businesses buying technology solutions from technology providers access to more finance options. Led by ICT Sales Director Martin Ardern, the new division will help IT channel partners and VARs offer customers more accessible financing options at point-ofsale, enabling businesses to adopt and invest in technology solutions without significant upfront costs. A key goal of the Division is to raise awareness of the benefits of financing technology and negate current perceptions that only hardware can be financed, with soft costs, hardware and software (including software-only finance agreements) all financeable. Ardern said: “Shire Leasing already has extensive capabilities in developing bespoke finance programmes for the channel, working with market-leading blue-chip distributors as well as smaller B2B resellers. I’m excited to bring my specialist expertise to develop further finance programmes across the Channel, ultimately improving B2B sales conversions and supporting SMEs to grow affordably.” Channel finance solutions already developed by Shire Leasing and available through existing partners and VARs include the Technology Lease, which allows SMEs to finance equipment and associated software and soft costs (such as licences, support contracts and training) under a single agreement; and a Managed Rental Agreement, including a recurring revenue collection facility, that ensures all costs are covered with a single payment, with recurring revenues distributed back to partners and VARs. www.shireleasing.co.uk … Phoenix backs London MSSP Cybanetix UK private equity firm Phoenix Equity Partners has invested in Cybanetix, a London-headquartered MSSP founded by Martin Jakobsen in 2017. Operating in a UK market valued at $500 million and growing at 15% per annum, Cybanetix provides enterprise customers with cyber threat monitoring, defence and response from its state-of-the-art UK Security Operations Centre (SOC). Commenting on the fifth investment from Phoenix’s fifth (2022) fund, Investment Director James Chiang said: “Since its formation only seven years ago, Cybanetix has made huge strides on its exciting journey, with some amazing results to show for it. We are very excited to be partnering with Martin and the team in one of the UK’s most exciting, high‑growth markets. Between us we have very ambitious plans for growth, so watch this space.” Martin Jakobsen, CEO of Cybanetix, added: “We are very proud of the fantastic growth we have achieved to date – but we’re just getting going. With an outstanding team and a service offering that we believe is unmatched in the market, we are delighted to have partnered with Phoenix. We look forward to the value that M&A market boost in first half of 2024 The first half of 2024 saw a resurgence in M&A activity across Europe, following a period of economic uncertainty caused by high interest rates and inflation, reports Dealsuite, the European M&A platform. Its latest European M&A Monitor suggests that an increase in buy-side and sell-side transactions combined with rising EBITDA multiples and earlier market entry of businesses are driving renewed optimism, especially in the UK and Ireland where 89% of M&A advisors surveyed are positive about the remainder of 2024, compared to 73% across Europe as a whole. Key trends in H1 2024 include: ■ A higher average EBITDA multiple – after declining from 5.4 to 5.1 between 2022 and 2023, the average EBITDA multiple reached 5.2 in the first half of 2024, indicating growing confidence in business valuations; ■ More interested buyers – the number of interested buyers per company rose from an average of 7.8 in H1 2023 to 8.3 in H1 2024, with the software development and IT services sectors seeing the highest levels of interest; and ■ Companies being offered for sale earlier in their lifecycle – 55% of advisors report that companies are typically offered for sale between their 10th and 20th year, with 40% noting that companies are being listed for sale earlier than they were 10 years ago. Floyd Plettenberg, CEO of Dealsuite, said: “The new generation of entrepreneurs no longer feels compelled to persevere with the aim of eventually passing the business on to their children. If they can secure a good sale after a few years, they choose that route as a mark of success.” www.dealsuite.com GRC advances growth strategy with Pentest People acquisition The GRC Group, a provider of software and services to manage business risks and regulatory compliance, is advancing its strategy to build market-leading positions in select areas of governance, risk and compliance with the acquisition of Pentest People Ltd. GRC’s second acquisition this year follows that of Bulletproof Cyber Ltd in June. Pentest People will join the provider of cyber security, information security and data protection services, trading as Bulletproof in the UK and Target Defense in the USA, in GRC’s newly formed cyber division. Headquartered in Leeds, Pentest People provides penetration-testing-as-a-service (PTaaS) and continuous vulnerability scanning to more than 1,200 UK clients, directly and through channel partnerships. In addition to pen testing and cyber consultancy, it offers CHECK-accredited testing and has a rapidly growing Incident Response service. Alex Dacre, Chief Executive of The GRC Group, said: “The addition of Pentest People following our acquisition of Bulletproof in June demonstrates our commitment to become an international leader in the Governance, Risk and Compliance market, delivering tech-led compliance to SMEs alongside leading enterprise SaaS point solutions.’’ Founded in 2019, the GRC Group employs more than 1,200 people across six business lines – Compliance eLearning, Regulatory Intelligence, Risk Management Software, Employment Compliance, ISO services and Cyber Security. Following its acquisition by Inflexion in May, GRC Group is looking to accelerate its growth through a combination of organic growth and M&A. Martin Ardern
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