The requirement for UK corporates to have in place higher security for highly sensitive data has seen demand for the Company’s services accelerate in recent years, specifically within the Fintech and wider Financial Services sectors.
Current levels of sales activity within the business show this rate of growth will continue with the company set to benefit from market headwinds such as GDPR and an ever greater demand for cyber security services. In order to support the plans of the business and accelerate our success new investors have been successfully secured to push the business onwards and upwards.
In parallel to the new investment and in conjunction with long term business succession planning both Peregrine Newton (CEO) and Andy Theodorou (COO), both co-founders of the business, have decided to step aside. Phil Bindley (CTO) has been promoted into the role of Managing Director with the rest of the Senior Management Team remaining in their current roles.
Founded in 2005, Palatine Private Equity is an entrepreneurial, Partner led private equity business with a focus on backing like-minded people in the UK regional lower middle market. The Partners have over 80 years’ experience working with entrepreneurs and management teams in private equity backed businesses.
Palatine sees huge potential in The Bunker as an Ultra-Secure Managed Service Provider and plans to build The Bunker to create a full service cyber security business and several acquisitions to achieve this aim have already been identified.
Phil Bindley, Managing Director at The Bunker said: “The investment and backing of Palatine is a huge endorsement of the quality of our business and the unique offering we have in today’s increasingly security focused market. Equally and importantly the cultural fit between The Bunker’s management team, Andy Hague Group CEO and Palatine was one that stood out to us during this process. In particular their strong held belief that the route to making businesses as successful as possible is by investing in people, a view that resonated soundly with myself and the wider management team of The Bunker. The entire business are tremendously excited about the opportunities this will bring and the additional services and value we will be able to deliver to customers both current and new.”
Andy Hague, Group CEO, said: “This acquisition signals the first step in what I believe is a very exciting plan that I and the management team at The Bunker have been formulating in close partnership with Palatine in recent months. The Bunker offers truly unique facilities, and can rightly claim to provide the most physically secure Data Centres in the UK. With the wave of regulatory change in the market driving the need for ever increasing data security, we will be looking to build on the facilities in place today to add a full suite of cybersecurity products and services to the already strong security centric offering. Both the excellent existing management team and myself look forward to building something very special with Palatine acting as valued and forward looking investor.”
Tony Dickin, Partner at Palatine Private Equity, said: “We look forward to working with the management team of The Bunker and Andy Hague in building on the excellent market position the Company has in the high security managed service sector, as well as developing its position in the wider cyber security space. As part of the value creation plan for the business we will look to deliver a buy and build strategy and we are currently in discussions with a number of parties we believe will provide exciting additional services to the Bunker. We believe the management team have built a fantastic business to date and that there is a currently a significant market opportunity to develop the business further”