Giacom Founder and Oakley Capital Consider £1bn UK Takeover of Gamma UPDATE

A new report has claimed that the founder and chairman of managed communications provider Giacom, Matthew Riley, is allegedly partnering with private equity group Oakley Capital to back a £1bn takeover of business IT and ISP Gamma Communications. Once completed the provider might then be broken up, with its UK telecoms arm going to Giacom.

Regular readers might recall that Gamma, which as of today has a market capitalisation of £930.81m, has recently become the subject of much takeover speculation (here). The provider has thus far only confirmed that they are in “preliminary discussions with a number of interested counterparties with a view to establishing whether such Potential Offerors might be willing to put forward a proposal that would deliver greater value“.

Accord to Sky News today (credits to Shaukat for spotting), Giacom’s founder and Oakley Capital are reportedly preparing a £1bn bid to buy and break up the communications provider. Mr Riley and Oakley previously worked together at Damovo and Daisy Group, which they grew to become one of Britain’s biggest private business telecoms providers.

The news comes half a year after Gamma signed a 6-year commitment with B2B telecoms company O2 Business, which extended an existing agreement and expanded it to reflect the recent merger between VMO2 Business (Virgin Media and O2) and Daisy Group (full details). A 7-year wholesale revenue agreement is included in that. The deal also included the transition Gamma’s UK SME direct customer base to O2Business, with Gamma’s remaining UK direct sales channels consisting of digital channels and providing solutions to enterprise customers.

We should point out that there may be further competition for Gamma, with Providence Equity Partners recently being identified another potential suitor circling the company.

UPDATE 16th May 2026 @ 6:35am

Gamma confirmed last night that two groups had entered talks for the business.

Gamma Statement

The Board of Gamma notes the recent press speculation and confirms that Epiris LLP (“Epiris”) and a consortium comprising Oakley Capital and Giacom (the “Consortium”) are amongst the parties in discussions with the Company in the context of the announcement made by Gamma on 7 April 2026. These discussions remain at a preliminary stage.

There can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the Company nor as to the terms of any offer, if made.

In accordance with Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, Epiris and the Consortium must, by not later than 5.00 pm (London time) on 12 June 2026, being 28 days after today’s date, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Gamma under Rule 2.7 of the Code or announce that they do not intend to make an offer for Gamma, in which case the announcement will be treated as a statement to which Rule 2.8 of the Code applies. This deadline will only be extended with the consent of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code.

As previously announced, the Executive of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has granted a dispensation from the requirements of Rules 2.4(a) and 2.4(b) of the Code such that Gamma is not required to identify in this announcement any potential offeror with which the Company is in talks, or from which an approach has been received, unless that potential offeror is specifically identified in any rumour or speculation. A further announcement will be made if and when appropriate.

The individual responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Gamma is Rachael Matzopoulos, Company Secretary.