We are pleased to report that we have sold a majority stake in Cloud Technology Solutions Group to Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”), a global investment firm with over $8.5 billion in capital commitments under management.
The deal delivers a strong return for NorthEdge Fund II and includes a material reinvestment into Cloud Technology Solutions Group from NorthEdge Fund II and NorthEdge Fund III, alongside Marlin. The investment will support and enhance management’s strategy for growth.
The Cloud Technology Solutions Group consists of two market leading companies, “CTS” providing Google Cloud professional and managed services and “CloudM” providing Google Workspace/M365 migration and management software. The company’s solutions help customers adopt advanced digital business models and benefit from reduced costs with improved data analytics and efficient productivity suite management.
“We believe CTS is well-positioned to capitalise on the momentum behind Google Cloud Platform, one of the fastest-growing public cloud platforms,” said Tom Ray, CEO of Cloud Technology Solutions Group. “We see growing demand for our leading professional and managed services capabilities across the sectors and regions we serve. We are delighted to join Marlin, who bring a wealth of operational expertise and domain knowledge to our team, while continuing our relationship with NorthEdge. With their shared vision and support, we look forward to further strengthening CTS’s position in the European market and continuing to invest in CloudM.”
“CTS has emerged as one of Europe’s largest and fastest growing Google Cloud partners,” said Mike Wilkinson, a managing director at Marlin. “The business’s focus and expertise in services and software for the Google Cloud Platform and Workspace make it well positioned in a strategic growth market. We are excited to partner with the management team to build and scale the business to become an EMEA leader in Google Cloud services and independently develop CloudM.”
Jon Pickering, Chief Investment Officer at NorthEdge added: “It has been great working alongside the CTS & CloudM teams over the last four years. The team has worked incredibly hard since our initial investment in 2018, growing net revenues, developing a number of new proprietary products, scaling internationally and consistently investing in their people. Like Marlin, we believe that the company will continue to grow, solidifying its position as one of the leading providers of Google Cloud Services in EMEA and we are excited to remain part of the journey.”
NorthEdge was advised by Arma Partners (Corporate Finance), Squire Patton Boggs (Legal), PwC (Financial Due Diligence), Altman Solon (Commercial Due Diligence).