BrazilPrivate equity group Vortex acquires Dutch telecom & IT services firms
Benelux private equity firm Vortex Capital Partners has acquired Tritel and Fieber, two telecom & IT service providers located in the Netherlands. The Amsterdam-based investor has merged the two companies, in a move that creates one of the larger B2B service providers for the SME segment in the Netherlands.
Tritel and Fieber are both telecom & IT service providers who deliver voice-over-IP (VoIP), internet access, mobile telecom, cloud solutions and other IT products to a wide range of Dutch businesses and entrepreneurs, mainly focused on mid-market companies and small businesses. Both companies – Tritel is based in Alkmaar and Fieber in Amstelveen – have seen rapid growth in recent years, on the back of the digitisation boom which is hitting businesses.
The use of internet services has for instance become a sheer necessity for the services and operations of companies, and both Tritel and Fieber focus on the delivery of high-speed internet services through glass fibre networks. Further, in an era when many organisations find themselves embracing digital transformation, topics such as cloud-based working and managed voice are becoming increasingly important levers for the way organisations organise themselves and operate.
“By combining these two companies, a Dutch front-runner in the industry is created. Both leadership teams have done a good job by focusing on scalability and top line growth,” said Evert Jan de Groot, Partner at Vortex Capital Partners. The deal was funded out of the firm’s ‘Growth Stage Buy-out Fund II’, which was launched in December last year and has a total size of €35 million, available for targets in the Benelux ranging from €5 million to €25 million.
The acquisition of the two Dutch companies comes one month after Vortex acquired GWLISTE.de, a German website for second-hand car sales. The added platform has been combined with CarsOnTheWeb, a B2B online auctioneer for used cars which the investor acquired a year ago. Together the two automotive platforms have crafted the ambitious plan to sell more than 100,000 vehicles in the coming years.
The combination of Tritel and Fieber will according to De Groot build on their complementary offerings to enjoy several synergies.Tritel, founded in 2007, has gained considerable size by focusing on providing services to mid and lower-tier markets. Fieber meanwhile has developed a strong sales and implementation model to the lower tiers of the SME market. Together the two companies now serve more than 5,000 customers throughout the Netherlands, from offices based in Alkmaar, Amstelveen, Den Haag, Den Bosch and Joure.
“The ambition is to grow Fieber and Tritel into the leading provider of telecom and IT services to businesses in the mid-market and SME segment, and position their offerings as the top alternative to the incumbents players. We see the potential to grow fast over the next few years,” remarked De Groot.
Throughout the deal-making process, the shareholders of Tritel were advised by AenF Partners, a boutique Dutch M&A firm based in the Netherlands. Other M&A advisors involved have not been disclosed.
