Shoosmiths team advises on £3.2m telecoms acquisition

Jul 13 2010 by Tom Scotney, Birmingham Post

Midlands lawyers at Shoosmiths have advised the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on its financial backing of a double acquisition by the GCI Telecom Group.

GCI bought Netservices UK and WAN Services, both telecoms support companies, for a total of £3.2 million from Netservices plc, which is now trading as Accumuli.

Legal advice on the funding for deal was led by Tom Bird, an associate in Shoosmiths’ Midlands-based corporate finance team. Another key member of the Shoosmiths’ team was Birmingham-based corporate finance associate Emma Dolphin.

Trading as Edge Telecom and IPI, the GCI Telecom Group is a fast-growing specialist telecoms provider.

Mr Bird said: “This is a significant strategic bolt-on acquisition for GCI Telecom Group on the back of several other deals that they’ve completed in the last few years.

“Although the deal market is still tough, things are improving and acquisitions like this are a good sign that market activity is picking up and funding is available for good quality deals.”

David Hughes, relationship director at RBS Corporate and Institutional Banking, added: “This is another good acquisition for GCI and thanks to all parties working closely the deal was delivered within the desired timescales.”