Bidding war erupts over UK business ISP Gamma as Waterland tackles Epiris
A week has passed since business ISP and IT provider Gamma Communications accepted a cash offer from British private equity firm Epiris worth £1.079bn (here). But a new report claims that the Waterland private equity firm hasn’t given up their pursuit and plans to table a larger bid.
Last week it seemed like Epiris (Bradbury Bidco Limited), which was recently linked to separate talks for TalkTalk’s wholesale business (PXC), had put themselves in pole position to secure Gamma after both sides “reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer”. Gamma’s Directors said they consider the terms of the acquisition to be both “fair and reasonable“, before recommending that it be accepted.
However, the Sunday Times (paywall) yesterday reported that Dutch private equity firm Waterland plan to formally table a larger bid for the business, which if successful would see Waterland sell off two of Gamma’s SME (small and medium sized enterprises) focused divisions to rival UK business broadband and comms provider Giacom (equating to almost 30% of Gamma’s revenue).
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Gamma is currently said to be perceiving the Epiris offer as more straightforward and having lower execution risk than a deal with Waterland, but at the end of the day it’s the money that often does the most talking.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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