International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised the management team of Babble on its £90 million acquisition by Graphite Capital, the leading UK mid-market private equity house. LDC, which originally backed the buyout of Babble (IP Solutions at the time) in 2017, has retained a minority stake in the business to support its continued growth.
Based in the UK, Babble supports around 2,000 medium-sized companies operating in a wide range of sectors including financial, health and education, travel and accommodation, and public services. Its integrated communications proposition enables clients to improve efficiency, enhance customer service, increase revenue, reduce costs and remain secure in the digital world.
Babble has long-standing relationships with leading suppliers such as Five9, Evolve IP, Gamma and Microsoft, providing them with a sales channel into the fragmented SME market. Babble has grown revenues to more than £25m over the past three years, and has a pipeline of potential acquisition which will expand its services.
The Osborne Clarke team was led by Partners Mike Freer and Mark Spinner with support from Senior Associate William Nicolson, Associate Hannah Rossi and Trainee Solicitor Sarah Smith from the Corporate team. Partner David Nisbet and Luolan Dong advised on tax matters.
Osborne Clarke’s specialist Management Advisory Group, one of only a handful of dedicated practices amongst leading firms, has over 150 collective years’ of experience of providing pragmatic and commercially focused advice to senior managers on private equity transactions. Our team brings together specialists from our Private Equity, Tax, Employment, Share Incentives and Private Wealth practices, who work side by side with our clients through every aspect of the transaction. Since 2018, the Management Advisory Group has advised on transactions valued at more than £5.9billion.
