Beech Tree Private Equity makes significant investment in cybersecurity firm

Beech Tree Private Equity has announced a significant investment in cybersecurity firm Performanta, which will support the company's growth through strategic acquisitions. Maidenhead-based Performanta provides managed cybersecurity solutions for its more than 500 customers, with around 2 million managed users utilising its services.

Beech Tree’s undisclosed stake will help Performanta to carry out strategic acquisitions in core markets as it looks to expand its capabilities and build the group. The investment will also enable the company to rapidly scale up and boost sales.

The investment is just the latest in a recent spate of private equity deals in the rapidly growing cybersecurity sector, which has taken on even greater levels of importance with the rise in home-working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beech Tree pointed out that the cybersecurity market is forecast to grow from its current level of $173 billion (£124.1 billion) to $270 billion (£193.7 billion) by 2026 and that 77 per cent of this 2026 figure would be focused on the kind of managed services provided by Performanta.

Beech Tree director Adam Rudd said: "The market is experiencing significant growth as cyber-attacks become more high profile, frequent and damaging, which is driving the increased requirement for specialist managed cyber security services.”

"We have been particularly impressed with the depth of cybersecurity expertise demonstrated by Performanta, which is reflected by its tier one customer base, including businesses with global operations across banking, aviation, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, public sector and blue-chip enterprises. We are delighted to partner with the team and look forward to supporting their next phase of growth."

Performanta will join firms BCN, Transparity and Wavenet in the Beech Tree portfolio. The private equity firm generally invests between £10 million and £40 million in companies it backs, with investments coming in the form of M&A and expansion funding and backing for MBOs. Beech Tree says that all of the firms in its portfolio have completed at least one acquisition.

Following the investment, William Morrish will join Performanta as chief revenue officer, while Tim Collins will become chief financial officer.

Performanta CEO Guy Golan said: “We are a customer-centric organisation, and so importantly, this investment is great news for our customers as it will enable us to continue to expand our high-quality offering to our global customer base. We are looking forward to accelerating our growth so we can enable more businesses to operate in a secure environment.”


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