Entanet UK Secures Multi-Million Investment for Management Buyout

Communications provider Entanet, which supplies a number of Internet providers and businesses in the United Kingdom with broadband, Ethernet, VPN and other services, has managed to secure an initial private equity investment of £6m that will be used to support a £14m “management buyout” and to upgrade their services.

The source of the funding is mid-market private equity investor Mobeus Equity Partners, which plans to boost Entanet’s growth by among other things investing in the development of their existing services and perhaps developing new products too.

Mobeus has introduced non-executive director, Richard Atkins, as investing Chairman to advise Entanet at a strategic level. Atkins was previously a non-executive director of Global Crossing UK plc, Morse plc. and MessageLabs Group Ltd. However Entanet’s founder, Jason Tsai, is expected to remain a significant shareholder.

Elsa Chen, Managing Director of Entanet, said:

“Mobeus is a highly-respected mid-market equity investor and we see this investment as a major vote of confidence in the long-term prospects for Entanet’s business. It will strengthen our strategy of building a solid loyal partner channel that is capable of driving steady, stable and sustainable growth over the long term. It will also support the continuing investment we are making in our network and in developing and delivering new services that enable our partners to offer more choice and value to the widest range of customers.”

Ashley Broomberg, Partner at Mobeus, added:

“Entanet has a great reputation and a sound and proven business model. We are delighted to provide our support for the company’s growth plans and look forward to working with the management team to build on its firm foundations in the growing connectivity services sector.”

Entanet has already built a strong network, which includes 39 PoPs to every one of the 20 key aggregation points that form BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) platform. The business also has around 2,000 partners. But at this stage it’s still too early to know how the new investment will change Entanet or what they will do differently, if anything.