Panoramic Growth Equity (“Panoramic”), the leading debt and equity investor in UK regional SMEs, today announced that Panoramic Growth Fund 2 LP (“the Fund”) has fully exited its investment in CMI, an IT managed service provider with offices in Belfast, London and the Thames Valley. CMI was Panoramic’s first investment in Northern Ireland and the exit has generated a strong return for Investors in the Fund.
CMI has grown significantly through a series of acquisitions since Panoramic’s investment and has been acquired by ECI Partners backed BCN Group who are headquartered in Manchester. The sale is the fourth full exit for the Fund and has been completed after a hold period of 4 years, leaving a further twelve portfolio companies from which to realise value over the coming years.
Panoramic backed Ken Roulston and his senior management team in 2019, providing replacement capital for retiring shareholders and acquisition funding to support the acquisition of London based IT provider BTA. Panoramic provided additional funding in 2021 for CMI to acquire another London based IT MSP, Brookland Computer Services, to further its buy-and-build strategy and consolidate its position as one the UK’s leading providers of IT services.
Ken Roulston, CEO of CMI, commented “Panoramic has proven to be a fantastic partner over the past four years providing capital, advice, and support to help us deliver our strategy of scaling the company through acquisition.”
David Wilson, Partner at Panoramic said of the exit “We are delighted to have been part of CMI’s successful buy-and-build strategy with multiple funding rounds and assist the company throughout its growth, generating a strong return for investors in the Fund. It has been a pleasure to work with Ken, Bob and the CMI senior management team and we wish them all the best for the future as CMI moves on to the next stage of its development with BCN”
Panoramic’s investment was led by David Wilson and David Atkinson. Legal advice to Panoramic was provided by Murray Jack of Addleshaw Goddard and corporate finance and legal advice to CMI was provided by Sami Farris and Chris Hillier at KPMG and Sarah Burrows of Edwards & Co respectively.