Investcorp, a provider and manager of alternative investment products, is to sell SecureLink Group, one of the largest dedicated cybersecurity infrastructure and managed services providers in Europe, to global telecoms group Orange for an enterprise value of EUR515 million.
Investcorp first acquired SecureLink, a leading player in the Benelux region, in December 2015 with a view to consolidating the highly attractive but fragmented European cybersecurity market. Over the last three years, SecureLink has experienced strong organic growth, added leading providers in Scandinavia, the UK and Germany to its platform and expanded in China. Investcorp, in partnership with management and founders of the Company, has successfully executed a targeted buy-and-build strategy and transformed SecureLink from a regional leader to a leading pan-European provider of cybersecurity services.
Hazem Ben Gacem, Co-CEO of Investcorp, says: “The cybersecurity industry has seen great demand over the past few years, driven by an increasingly digital world. Investcorp has been building a strong track record in that industry through investments in a number of identify scalable and profitable businesses across Europe and the US, and SecureLink is a great example of such an investment. Since the start of our partnership, the business has more than tripled its revenue and expanded its presence into seven European countries and China. SecureLink stills holds a promising future and we wish them the best of luck.”
Thomas Fetten, Chief Executive Officer, SecureLink, adds: “Recognising our clients’ needs for more advanced cybersecurity solutions and services across a landscape of rapidly evolving business threats we had a strong partner with Investcorp in identifying a number of strategic acquisitions to significantly enhance our products and services offering across a broader range of geographies. The successful combination of SecureLink and Investcorp’s resource and expertise has created a European market leader which today, safely enables the business of our valued customer base. We have enjoyed our partnership with Investcorp during which time we have been able to realize considerable growth. We look forward to the opportunities to drive continued value for our clients with our new shareholder.”
The Company has been advised in this transaction by Jefferies (corporate finance), KPMG (tax), Stibbe (legal) and Travelers (insurance).
