DROPJAW ADVISES ON A MERGER THAT DELIVERS A RICHER SET OF SOLUTIONS -  PROVIDING GREATER VALUE TO OUR CLIENTS

DropJaw are proud to have advised on the following transaction.

Connectus Business Solutions and KTSL have merged to create the Connectus Group, it was announced this morning, April 21st.

The businesses and their 60 employees will continue to operate from six UK and Ireland sites and ambitious plans are in place to create further job opportunities across their commercial, delivery and support functions.

Roy Shelton will be CEO of the Connectus Group and the merger sets the Group on a path to becoming one of the leading IT Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in the UK. Their clients already include AIB, UCB, Unilever, the Peel Group, Sale Sharks and the National Police Air Service.

Commenting on the merger Roy Shelton, CEO of Connectus Group said: “Today is the start of an exciting new chapter for Connectus Business Solutions and KTSL and will present an opportunity for further growth and job creation.

“By bringing these two great organisations together and creating Connectus Group, we have significantly increased our technical capability, boosted our delivery resources and further deepened our pool of commercial experience. This is the third transaction in as many years for Connectus, having been forced to pause our ambitious merger and acquisition strategy due to the global pandemic.

“Although that period presented challenges, it has also thrown up exciting opportunities for forward-thinking businesses like ours that can adapt quickly to the changing needs of our clients.

“This merger allows both businesses to work together on a shared vision, which is to deliver efficient, collaborative and sustainable services for our customers and staff and to execute revenue growth via a planned and controlled expansion programme.

“It also brings a greater scale, allowing us to bid for larger opportunities, increase our recurring managed services revenue and will allow us to leverage our sixty-plus members of staff in a more collaborative manner.”

Aaron Perrott, the CTO of KTSL said: “This is an exciting merger that will allow us to increase value for clients no matter their size. The significant investment KTSL has made in our own market leading Intellectual Property over many years will provide clear differentiation for the Connectus Group.

“Hybrid working has opened up opportunities for clients to leverage our advanced Tech Bar and Portal capabilities; simplifying, integrating and consolidating complex tools and platforms for our clients.

“This merger will allow us to extend our range of service solutions built on more than 20 years as a global leader in the ITSM and Service Integration space. It will extend our portfolio to include cyber security and a secure hosting capability for our solutions. This will broaden our capability to offer highly relevant solutions to help our combined clients mitigate cost and risk, improving their underlying service and employee experience.

“With such a lot to offer, and our ability to unlock rapid returns and benefits, we are all looking forward to the next phase of our growth together.”

The merger comes following a due diligence and legal process which started last November. Connectus Group expects to deliver revenues of more than £10m in the current financial year ending March 2023 including significant and sustainable profits which will help pave the way for accelerated organic and inorganic growth.

Following the merger Rob Marks, the CEO of KTSL, will become the non-executive Chair of Connectus Group. The Connectus Group will be strengthened by the arrival of Keri Brocks, Company Secretary and Finance Manager; Paul Ruocco, Group CFO; Aaron Perrott, Group CTO; Tim McCue, Head of Professional Services; Mark Robinson Founding Director; Mark Wiseman, Group Commercial Officer and Andrew North, Group Sales Director.

The group’s HQ will remain in Doncaster and Connectus Group will continue to operate from their five offices in Salford, Corsham, Egham, Daresbury and Dublin.

For more than 20 years, Connectus Business Solutions has been a leading business connectivity and managed services partner, providing business critical infrastructure alongside fully managed solutions to help companies stay connected, protected and to collaborate effectively online as they scale and grow. With a two-decade legacy in telecommunications, Connectus helps clients to mitigate costs, complexity and risk and provides business critical infrastructure along with fully managed solutions. It has a dedicated, customer focused and technically capable team, who work with clients at their own pace and level of technical understanding to ensure great outcomes are achieved.

KTSL has excelled in the service management and integration space. They partner with BMC, 4ME, Jitterbit and Pagerduty to provide an extensive coverage of applications across the ITSM space. Their expertise spans a wide range of industries across public and private sectors with an 80-strong network of consultants based in the UK, Ireland, Czech Republic and India. It has successfully delivered over 1,000 projects for 180 customers, including AIB, UCB, Unilever and Balfour Beatty. KTSL has helped clients take full advantage of new technology to drive adoption of digital services, creating a digitally connected business combining people, data, processes and infrastructure.

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