Sovereign backs MBO of data centre deep cleaning and decontamination specialist 8 Solutions

Sovereign Capital, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, has completed its tenth transaction of 2010 with the Management Buy-out of 8 Solutions, the UK's market leading, data centre deep cleaning provider.

Established in 1991, 8 Solutions operates from its head office in Bolsover, Derbyshire and its southern hub in Elstree, Hertfordshire. The business' 48 technicians test for and remove contaminants that become embedded in server racks and within the data centre environment, thereby minimising the risk of data centre downtime for clients.

8 Solutions has strong, long-term relationships with its UK and international blue chip customer base, providing mission critical services to FTSE 100 clients ranging from retail and investment banks to utilities and telecoms providers. Customers include BT, Vodafone, Lloyds TSB, RBS, Axa, Morrisons and Microsoft.

Sovereign is backing the dynamic, incumbent management team led by Chief Executive Amit Mehta who was previously in a senior finance role at US Fortune 500 corporation, Avery Dennison; having formerly worked in corporate finance with Ernst & Young. Amit is supported by Financial Director, Andy Welsh, Sales and Marketing Director, Kaushal Doshi and Chairman, John Pettifor. John is well known to Sovereign in his current capacity as Chairman for three other Sovereign backed companies.

Sovereign's strong track record and relationship with the Royal Bank of Scotland's Structured Debt Solutions team in London enabled a senior debt funding package to be secured to support the MBO.

Commenting on the transaction, George Williams at Sovereign said: "We are delighted to be supporting the high calibre team at 8 Solutions who have successfully identified and developed a niche in this specialist cleaning market. Through our proven Buy & Build strategy, we look forward to working with management to extend the business's expertise in the UK and overseas by taking advantage of the underpenetrated data room cleaning market and expanding the company's services into adjacent verticals."

Amit Mehta, Chief Executive of 8 Solutions added: "With support from our previous investors, we are very pleased to have developed 8 Solutions into the successful platform business it is today. With the increasing demand for processing power, particularly in international markets such as financial services, we are excited by the opportunity that Sovereign's financial and strategic backing gives 8 Solutions to further develop and expand our services to support clients in their critical environments."

Sovereign has committed total funding of £15 million to 8 Solutions and is actively negotiating with a number of complementary, specialist cleaning businesses as part of its award winning Buy & Build strategy.