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Dealers
October 23, 2014
Vodafone Platinum Partner confirms it has held talks with potential suitors but that no agreements were made
Excalibur Communications has rejected a series of offers from rivals B2B resellers looking to acquire the 20-year-old firm.
The Swindon-based dealer’s newly-appointed chief commercial officer Andy Tow (pictured) confirmed rumours in the channel that Excalibur had held talks with potential suitors – two of which were Platinum Partners – but no agreements were made.
“There have been approaches, some of which have been very recent. We’re successful and people want to try and replicate that, and one way of doing that is through acquisition. However, those approaches have been firmly rejected.”
The former Avenir (now Chess Telecom) managing director said he had been made aware of the discussions prior to his appointment, which began this month.
He claims Excalibur, which has a base of around 35,000 Vodafone connections, is “not” actively seeking to sell the business, although he admits everything has a price:
“My house isn’t for sale but if someone knocks on the door and offers me £1 million all of a sudden it’s for sale,” said Tow. “We can’t stop being approached and I’d have been disappointed if there hadn’t been any. It’s a great business that people will be interested in getting hold.”
Potential
Despite his comments, Mobile News understands Excalibur has recently appointed corporate finance firm Deloitte as advisers for a potential sale and a sales prospectus is in the process of being drawn up.
Details on interested parties, both past and present are known to Mobile News, but could not be verified at press. Discussions were however said to have broken down due to the asking price, which, according to sources, has been touted at around £7million.
According to Excalibur chief executive James Phipps, the company will show a turnover increase of around £2 million to £9 million in its next financial year results ending January 31 2015.
“We want to be growing at a minimum of 20-25 per cent every year,” he said.