US alternative asset management firm Ares to lend £1bn to Daisy Group for minority investor buyout
US asset management firm Ares will invest more than £1bn in business telecoms firm Daisy Group to allow the firm's founder Matthew Riley to buy out a minority investor.
The investment will also be used to refinance the company’s existing credit facilities, and will support the firm’s future growth plans.
Read more: Daisy calls FTSE for floatation
Daisy Group was founded by Riley, one of the UK’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, in 2001 and was taken private with the backing of Ares in 2014.
Last year Riley turned down buy-out proposals from private equity firms which would have valued the firm at £1.6bn, Sky News reported.
“This is one of the largest private credit financing transactions in Europe, which is both a testament to our longstanding relationship with Matthew Riley and the company’s key stakeholders, as well as the benefit of our scale, which enabled us to provide the entire financing solution,” said Michael Dennis, co-head of the Ares European direct lending strategy.
Ares has been involved in several other financing rounds with the company to support its buy and build strategy.
“Ares has been a major financing partner since our take-private and has supported us through a number of transactions.
Read more: Time Out owner Oakley Capital hit by sterling as Daisy Group receives takeover offer
“With the team’s renewed support, we have been able to simplify our capital and shareholder structure,” Riley said.
Daisy Group, which provides telecoms, IT and cloud services to UK businesses, has around 360,000 customers and 4,000 employees in more than 30 locations across the country.