Satellite ISP Avonline Broadband Gobbled by Europasat Owner for £10m

Satellite Solutions Worldwide, which owns Satellite broadband ISP Europasat, has effectively doubled its customer base to around 35,000 users across Europe by acquiring rival UK provider Avonline for a cool £10m. A further undisclosed payment may also be made, depending upon performance.

Apparently the deal is being supported by £12m worth of finance from the United Kingdom’s Business Growth Fund, which reflects a £9.6m unsecured loan and a further £2.4m unsecured convertible loan (i.e. a loan that can be changed into SSW shares at 9.0 pence a pop).

SSW has previously hinted that it hopes to secure 100,000 customers by the end of 2017 and this will no doubt play into that strategy. We also understand that Avonline’s existing MD, Mark Wynn, will be staying on at the provider.

Andrew Walwyn, SSW CEO, said:

“Combining Avonline Broadband with our existing business gives us a tremendous position of strength within the burgeoning UK satellite broadband market. The acquisition generates a number of economies of scale and operational benefits which we already have plans to implement following completion.”

The move makes sense because Avonline has taken part in a number of Government funded schemes, such as one that helped to trial 30Mbps capable Satellite services for rural communities and indeed the ISP recently announced that they were making this new product available nationwide (here).

On top of that that Government’s new rural subsidy scheme (here), which effectively covers the hardware and installation cost for areas that won’t benefit from a “fibre broadband” upgrade, is also helping to drive take-up of Satellite services. Mind you such services aren’t without their faults (here).