Browne Jacobson advises Apiary Capital on Connect Managed Services and G3 Comms merger

Browne Jacobson’s private equity team has completed its fourth deal for Apiary Capital after the private equity house backed the merger between Connect Managed Services and G3 Comms.

The deal follows the lower mid-market private equity house’s buyout of G3 Comms in April this year.

Connect Managed Services specialises in customer experience (CX) and unified communications (UC) for the B2B sector. Established in 1992, its clients include BP, Diageo, Johnson & Johnson, NSPCC and Vodafone, amongst others.

Formed in 2002, G3 Comms assists its B2B clients to facilitate new ways of working - through building and deploying unified communications and contact centres in partnership with many of the world’s leading communications suppliers – including Microsoft, Genesys and Avaya.

The deal, which will see LDC exit its investment, will create one of the UK’s largest CX and UC specialists. The new Group will be led by Connect CEO Alex Tupman with Martin Cross as its Chief Technology Officer. G3’s CEO, James Arnold-Roberts and Adam Young will be the new Group Managing Director and COO respectively. Mark Thompson (Chairman) and G3 co-founder, Tony Parish (NED) also join the Board.

The Browne Jacobson team was led by private equity Partner Gareth Davies, along with Associates Ryan Brown, Kirsty Underhill and Clare Hanna. Andrew Noble (Partner) supported on tax and Jonathan Edwards (Partner), Paul Hill (Partner) and Melanie Chisnall (Associate) supported on the banking aspects of the transaction.

Nicki Boyd, Apiary Capital Partner, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the compelling merger of Connect and G3.

"Alex and James have a shared vision of building a platform of significant scale in the market they both serve so well.

"We believe this is just the start of an exciting and highly productive collaboration and it is fantastic to be working with experienced and like-minded people who are totally aligned with our goals and objectives."

“Once again the team at Browne Jacobson, led by Gareth, have delivered. As well as being first rate lawyers, the team understand our business and the sectors in which we operate in and that makes getting the deal over the line so much easier.”

Gareth Davies, private equity Partner at Browne Jacobson, added:

“We are delighted to have advised Apiary on this investment following the G3 Comms deal earlier in the year. It was a pleasure to work with Nicki, Mark and Thomas again. This merger is a game changer for all parties and the proven commercial benefit of investing in CX and UC means the new Group has a bright and promising future ahead as one of the largest CX and UC specialists in the UK.”