M Group buys cabling specialist

Avonline Networks is a specialist installer of fibre optic duct and cables.  Under M Group ownership it will retain its brand identity and continue to operate as a standalone services business within the group.

Since private equity firm First Reserve took ownership of Morrison Utility Services at the end of 2016, it has made a series of acquisitions to take annual revenue from £600m to more than £1bn, adding Dyer & Butler, Meter-U, Magdalene, G4S Utility & Outsourcing Services, PMP Utilities and just last month  Industrial Water Jetting Systems (IWJS).

Of the Avonline deal, M Group Services chief executive Jim Arnold said: “The next decade is set to bring the biggest expansion in UK telecom networks since the original BT copper build, driven by business and consumer demand for ultrafast broadband, public policy and government incentives. Given the scope of its service capability and its position at the forefront of these next-generation network expansion programmes, Avonline Networks is ideally positioned to grow in the telecoms market with the support of M Group Services.”

Avonline Networks director Richard Hale said: “From nationwide fibre networks to in-building infrastructure for multiple dwelling units, Avonline Networks has been at the forefront of the UK’s next-generation network build and installation programmes for over 35 years. This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter in our growth and, as a part of M Group Services, we are now ideally placed to benefit from the financial scale of the Group and the growth opportunities this will bring.”

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

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