Private equity firm ECI Partners has announced an investment in UK-headquartered telecommunications company, Commify.

The deal is valued at €300m (£256.2m) and provides a full realisation for Hg, an investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses that has backed Commify’s transformation since 2016.

Headquartered in Nottingham, Commify operates in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia, and specialises in business messaging solutions to local enterprises. Its integrated solutions enable over 45,000 customers to communicate with their customers and staff, sending over five billion messages per year, covering a range of business-critical use cases from appointment confirmations to emergency alerts, via channels including SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email and voice.

The group has completed 16 complementary acquisitions in the last decade, and ECI suggested its new investment in the firm will support further acquisitions across both existing and new countries, as well as to accelerate future platform and product development.

“Commify has built a differentiated position in an exciting global market, and with messaging becoming the number one customer engagement channel, there is a clear and compelling growth opportunity across Europe, the US and Australia,” said partner at ECI, Paul McCreadie.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Richard and the Commify team to support them on further organic and acquisitive growth for the next stage of their journey.”

Commify CEO, Richard Hanscott, added: “With Hg’s backing in recent years we have built a highly differentiated market leading business, with material investment in both M&A and our business messaging platform.

“ECI’s ownership will allow us to accelerate our investment in new products and services, including our growing range of messaging channels such as WhatsApp. Alongside this we are excited to continue to drive expansion through further acquisitions in both existing and new countries.

“Commify is perfectly positioned to continue to deliver high quality, sustainable growth. This is a very exciting time for Commify, our customers and our employees as we look forward to further strong growth supported by ECI’s significant investment.”

Completion of the deal remains subject to closing conditions, confirmed Hg, the manager of HgCapital Trust (HGT), whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg’s investments.

The transaction values HGT’s investment in Commify at approximately £21.9m, which would represent an uplift of £5.3m (32% or 1.2 pence per share) over the carrying value of £16.6m in the net asset value of HGT, as of the end of Q1 this year.

Partner at Hg, Nick Jordan, added: “The investment from ECI is a big milestone for the management and staff at Commify. We have been incredibly proud to support the business as it expanded into multiple new European geographies and the US, more than doubling the size of business in doing so. We wish the team well for the future, in partnership with ECI.”

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