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Channel vets eyeing up investments from atop mount cash

'Tech merchant bank' MXC Holdings scopes software, MSP and FinTech sectors

Channel merchant bank MXC Capital is sitting on a pile of cash and finance facilities that will be used to grab minority stakes in managed services outfits, software players and FinTech start-ups.

The London Stock Exchange-listed buy and build vehicle founded by industry vets Ian Smith and Tony Weaver yesterday acquired privately held MXC Holdings - a business that is also owned by the pair - in a deal that values the company at £15m for the purposed of the buy.

This consolidates all of MXC’s investments, and unifies the management and investments. It is the “final step” in forming a quoted “merchant bank that specialises in tech companies”, MXC Holdings said. The sale is expected to close in September.

MXC Holdings was started in 2009 as the shell to manage the buy of distressed networking reseller Redstone. MXC Capital was born when Smith and Weaver were asked to restructure 2Ergo, which was subsequently sold to Eagle Eye Investments for £4.5m.

Smith told us MXC Capital has around £40m in cash and facilities to acquire shares in businesses.

“We generally take 20-30 per cent stake in a company so that equates to roughly £150m to £200m worth of businesses that we can invest in,” he told The Channel.

The duo have to date either acquired outright or taken minority stakes in circa 80 companies including Calyx, Maxima, a bunch of storage integrators, Redcentric and security firm Accumuli.

Smith said MXC Capital is interested in MSPs, tech areas including robotics, and “software businesses - we want to do more in that space. We have the infrastructure sector covered.”

He said there are deals in the pipeline but was, for obvious reasons, unable to talk specifics.

MXC Holdings has a market-cap of £250m. ®

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