Kartesia is pleased to announce the completion of a deal to provide a €29m senior loan facility to leading pan-European cloud telecommunications provider, Firstcom Europe. The capital will be used to support the firm’s ongoing buy-and-build strategy and to refinance its existing debt arrangements.

This is the second deal to be announced in as many months in the UK from the Kartesia Senior Opportunities I fund (KSO 1), as the firm continues to expand its footprint in the region under the leadership of Nick Holman, who joined the firm as a Director in February of this year. Nick was supported in this transaction by Sebastian Afflerbach, an Associate in the London office.

Over the past six years Firstcom has made eight acquisitions and achieved an annual turnover of over £35m. It currently operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Poland, and will be seeking to make further acquisitions within these regions. Firstcom has developed a Unified Communications (UCaaS) system which encompasses advanced voice services, online chat, video conferencing, screen sharing and SIP channel internet access for SMEs. There has been a rapid take up of these services during the pandemic.

Nick Holman, Director at Kartesia, said:

“We immediately saw the opportunity that Firstcom Europe offers, as an established and high-quality provider of unified communication solutions with an exceptional management team. With its proprietary product portfolio across on-premises and cloud-based solutions, the company is in a unique position to support its clients in the ongoing transitioning to digital telephony. We are excited to see where our relationship with Firstcom Europe will take us.”

Christian Bleakley, CEO of Firstcom, said: “Our business has benefited hugely from growth by acquisition, which has put us in an exceptional position to meet the demands of the current environment.  I am delighted that Kartesia has provided its support for continuation of this strategy and we look forward to our collaboration with them in the future.”

As part of the transaction, debt previously provided by Beechbrook Capital will be refinanced, but they will retain a shareholding in the group.