GMT Communications Partners, the private equity group specialising in technology, media and telecoms, has acquired conferencing services provider MeetingZone for £38.5m.
MeetingZone, which provides conference call and collaboration services to businesses, was founded in 2002 by Tim Duffy and Steve Gandy, both of whom will remain “significant shareholders”. Gandy will continue as CEO of the company and Duffy will become non-executive chairman, according to a statement.
GMT has said it plans to support the business to pursue growth in existing markets, as well as expand into new markets and increase the service offering. In the financial year ending March 2011, MeetingZone generated revenue of £11m, and it expects to grow turnover by more than 20% in this financial year. The company currently has operations in North America and Germany as well as the UK.
Stefan Franssen, partner at GMT, who will join the board, said:
“With the UK and European conferencing markets forecast to grow at around 10% a year to the end of 2013 – driven by the desire of corporates to cut travel and time costs, reduce carbon emissions and cater for increasing numbers of home or remote workers – MeetingZone is ideally positioned to capitalise on its market-leading technology. There is also scope to pursue acquisitive expansion and grow this highly scalable business internationally.”
Duffy commented:
“We are delighted to have found an investor with the skills and experience required to help us take MeetingZone to the next stage of its growth.
"GMT’s access to international networks, expertise and support in the coming years will allow us to continue to develop our market-leading technology platform and focus on our commitment to service excellence."