The Appleby Jersey team acted for family-backed private equity firm Perwyn in relation to the purchase of the majority stake in Jersey Telecom’s ‘Internet of Things’ business.
The sale is believed to be one of the biggest ever deals in the island’s digital industry.
Appleby worked with their Appleby Global Services (AGS) colleagues to establish the acquisition structure, providing the client with an integrated legal and administrative service to assist with all elements of the acquisition. Appleby and AGS worked closely with Eversheds Sutherland LLP, as UK legal counsel to the client throughout the transaction.
The Appleby team was led by Partner, Andrew Weaver, Senior Associates Chris Smedley and Daniel Healy, and assisted by Associate Stephen Parnell.
The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) business was created in 2014 as part of JT’s international expansion, and has significantly grown year-on-year in recent times. The business provides connectivity services to customers around the world, with almost 10 million JT SIMs in active use today.
The sale from publicly owned JT has been welcomed as a significant boost to the Jersey government. Jersey’s Chief Minister John Le Fondré commented: the deal “will represent the start of an even more exciting time for Jersey’s digital sector”.
Mark Blower, Partner at Perwyn, commented: “Perwyn has a major focus on, and experience in, technology enabled services. Therefore, the IoT business fits perfectly into our stable alongside our other investments in other high growth tech sectors such as web hosting and analytics. Fortunately for us, our growth themes have not changed in a Covid-19, or post Covid-19 world. If anything, the IoT will continue to take off as the adoption of device usage expands. We have appreciated the comprehensive, responsive and excellent quality of service from the Appleby team.”
Andrew Weaver observed: “This is a significant transaction reflecting well on the development of the digital sector in Jersey, to which Appleby have contributed as legal adviser to a number of innovative and entrepreneurial local growth businesses, whether it is at start-up phase, subsequent fund raising or sales and acquisitions. We look forward to working with the Perwyn and JT IoT team as they take this venture forward.”
