Digital Wholesale Solutions (DWS) is set to demerge from Daisy Group after confirming a strategic partnership with private equity firm Inflexion.
This partnership sees Inflexion make a significant minority investment in the business, while the demerger values DWS at £1 billion.
Inflexion operates as a mid-market private equity firm and has a flexible approach to back both minority and majority investments, ranging from £10 million to £300 million.
DWS provides IT, communications and cloud products and services to over 6,000 UK partners.
Among these partners are Vodafone, O2, BT/EE, Microsoft, TTB and Virgin Media Business.
The investment is subject to regulator approval, but once approved is the final step of the demerging of DWS from Daisy Group.
DWS CEO Terry O’Brien (pictured) will remain in his post, while Daisy Group founder and current DWS chairman Matt Riley will also stay in his role.
O’Brien has hailed the welcomed the investment from Inflexion.
“From the get-go, it was clear that Inflexion shared our excitement about the UK channel community and the huge potential for growth as SME’s increase their investment in digital technology,” said O’Brien.
“I’m delighted that Inflexion is joining our team, where we are obsessed with building a great channel-only business, delivering great products and a great experience for partners through a great platform”
Riley says the move has been made to provide “better focus and agility” for DWS’ customers and partners.
“In a fast moving, dynamic, highly competitive market, with customers demanding more from their partners, we made a strategic decision to separate our direct and indirect businesses to provide better focus and agility,” adds Riley.
“The change has re-ignited the growth in all our businesses and today’s announcement is the next step on that journey.”
Mobile News has contacted Daisy Group for comment.
