Windsor IT firm sold to US tech group Wayside at 6.5x earnings

Windsor-headquartered IT firm Spinnakar Ltd has been sold to US IT channel company Wayside Technology Group. The deal is valued at around £9.8 million, roughly a 6.5x multiple of Spinnakar’s £1.5 million in pre-tax income for the year ending July 31 2022, while Wayside has revealed there is also a potential post-closing earnout.

Spinnakar is an IT channel distributor which focuses on cloud, storage, security and data management, serving business throughout Europe, as well as in South Africa and the Middle East. The firm, which was founded in 2019, is partnered with more than 15 vendors, including Deep Instinct, Vast Data and Cloudian.

Post-acquisition, Spinnakar founder and CEO Gerard Brophy will continue to lead the firm, which will be integrated into Wayside’s existing European operations Grey Matter and Climb.

Gerard Brophy commented: "We are thrilled to join forces with the Climb Global Solutions and teams and look forward to scaling the integrated business across EMEA. Both organisations have very similar DNA with our focus on emerging technology products and services.”

"As a new member of the team, I plan to further expand our line card through our combined expertise and shared vision of bringing new, innovative companies to market through our global network."

Wayside Technology Group CEO Dale Foster said: “Spinnakar’s founders have a proven pedigree of over 40 years in building successful IT distribution businesses and bringing emerging vendors to market, where they have experienced exceptional growth.”

“Their European line card includes several vendors that we represent in the US, while also bringing several new key vendors such as Vast Data that provide significant cross-sell opportunities. Their deep knowledge and expertise in storage, cloud, security and data management match up seamlessly with our key verticals of focus. We expect this acquisition to be accretive to gross margin and net income, boosting both growth and profitability going forward.”

The deal was advised on by UK accounting firm Moore Barlow and is the second acquisition of a UK tech business by a US buyer that the company has worked on within the last month.

Jeremy Over, a partner in Moore Barlow’s corporate team, commented: "The UK tech scene is vibrant at the moment and that is reflected in a fast-moving adjoined M&A landscape. Whether it's companies like Spinnaker with an established offering or the emerging vendors that are constantly evolving the sector, there is huge overseas appetite to invest in the UK’s tech entrepreneurs."


Read more about inbound M&A in the UK.

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