North West based multi-family investment office, Arete, has announced that it has led an GBP11.25 million private equity investment round into consumer technology product development specialists Tactus Group, with a GBP10 million (USD13.75 million) investment.
Warrington-based Tactus is a technology expert providing multi-branded IT hardware to global retailers and the public sector. The investment from Arete enabled Tactus to complete a recent landmark acquisition of PC gaming specialist, CCL computers, which sees the group become a GBP125 million turnover business.
This latest deal will see Liverpool headquartered Arete further accelerate its growth ambitions, in a year that has already seen the firm make a number of senior hires, as well as investments across the North West, including its recent investment in Manchester-based tech pioneer, Peak AI.
Mike Fletcher, joint managing partner at Arete Capital Partners, says: “This is a fantastic strategic acquisition for Tactus Group and further strengthens its position as a disruptive consumer tech expert. CCL is ideally placed to bolster Tactus’ credentials in the gaming space, which has emerged as one of the world’s fastest growing sectors in recent months.
“Our investment will support Tactus in its organic and future acquisitions, and help it deliver its ambitious growth plan.”
The transaction extends the Arete partners’ long-standing relationship with Tactus CEO, Scott Brenchley and the wider management team.
Brenchley says: “A core part of our acquisition strategy over the next 12 months is to identify and bring together fantastic businesses that complement one another and can really drive our growth.
“Arete understand what makes entrepreneurs tick. Their unique combination of forward-thinking investment capital, real world business know-how and M&A expertise, has allowed us to live out our ambition through the acquisition of CCL.
“CCL’s longstanding reputation in the gaming market, built on the outstanding talent it has at its disposal, will provide Tactus with an exceptional platform in the PC gaming space. Our aim now is to build on this foundation for the benefit of CCL’s customers and we expect to grow the business exponentially over the next few years.”
The transaction was led by Mike Fletcher and Andy Critchley at Arete and Gav Jones at Tactus (M&A). Matt Noon and Elan Iorwerth, Hill Dickinson (legal advisers), Neil Robinson and Rob Dawes, Grant Thornton (financial due diligence) and Dan Harris, PwC (tax) also advised Arete and Tactus.
