The two investors will invest an undisclosed sum to fund a buy-out of Wetherby, UK-based Esteem, in a deal that will see the departure of founder and CEO Richard Doyle, sales director David Ogden, and non-executive chairman John Atkin. Following the takeover, Joe Connolly, a former MD for Synstar Europe, will be CEO of the company. He will be joined by board member Rob Foreman on behalf of Primary Capital.
Esteem Systems provides IT services to enterprises with more than 250 employees, and its customers include Darlington Building Society, Leicester City Council, Worcester City Council, Jewson, Telewest Broadband, Costcutter, Vertex, Bolton Institute, and Allied Pickfords. The company, which partners with vendors including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Citrix Systems, IBM, Veritas, and Oracle, employs some 100 people, and generates annual revenue of 30m pounds ($55.5m).
Esteem said it will use the proceeds of the takeover to fund future acquisitions.