Kelway secures significant investment by CDW Corporation as part of management buyout

Kelway, the London-based IT Services and Solutions provider, hasannounced the buy-out of all shares held by Core Capital. The management team, led by founder Phil Doye, has at the same time announced a significant investment by CDW Corporation which will help extend both firms’ ability to deliver IT services and solutions internationally.

Monday, 10th November 2014 Posted 9 years ago in by Phil Alsop

With current revenue in excess of $10bn, CDW Corporation has acquired a 35% stake in the Kelway business. In the deal, backed by Barclays and HSBC, Phil Doye and Kelway MD Dan Laws remain the majority shareholders in the business.

Under the new structure, Kelway and CDW plan to integrate more tightly to extend the global supply chain services they provide to customers in Europe and North America. This will help drive Kelway towards its business objective of achieving over £1bn in annual revenue within the next three years. Together the two organisations will enable customers to realise the benefit of consistent procurement and deployment services across multiple international locations.

Kelway has grown rapidly in both the UK and internationally over recent years, achieving revenues in excess of £500m in 2013/14, reflecting year-on-year growth of 49%. The company was founded in 1990 by CEO Phil Doye, who has since guided Kelway through significant organic growth and a series of successful acquisitions. Kelway has achieved an aggressive increase in market share for its Datacentre Infrastructure business, and designed and built its own cloud computing platform – ‘ServiceWorks.’

“Today’s announcement is a significant one and combined with the investment from CDW will enable us to accelerate towards our £1bn revenue goal.” said Phil Doye, Kelway CEO. “Having worked with CDW for over 18 months on joint client opportunities, this investment feels like a natural next step in our partnership.”

Tom Richards, Chairman and CEO of CDW, said, “Our investment in Kelway is a natural extension of our long history of ‘following the customer.’ For more than a year, Kelway has been a strategic partner, helping support our customers’ growing international business needs. The investment we are announcing today solidifies our partnership with Kelway and strengthens our ability to provide a more comprehensive solution to our customers and ensure we deliver a consistent brand experience, regardless of where the solution is delivered.”

Kelway has recently been awarded Cisco Global Commercial Partner of the Year and HP Enterprise Partner of the Year. In 2014, Kelway signed a 5 yearInfrastructure Services contract with Atos with an estimated value of £150m.

Kelway were advised in the transaction by William Blair, Reed Smith and PWC.