Daisy has demerged Digital Wholesale Solutions (DWS) after confirming a “significant” minority investment from Inflexion.
DWS boss, Terry O’Brien, will remain in his position as CEO, while Daisy Founder, Matt Riley, will stay on as chairman.
Riley said: “In a fast-moving, dynamic, highly competitive market, with customers demanding more from their partners, we made a strategic decision to separate our direct and indirect businesses to provide better focus and agility.
“The change has reignited the growth in all our businesses and today’s announcement is the next step on that journey.
“I’m delighted to welcome Inflexion onboard, who from first introduction recognised not only the quality of the DWS business but also its huge potential to grow in really exciting market conditions”
DWS is a channel-only business and carries suppliers including O2, BT, Microsoft and Virgin Media Business.
The deal has valued the firm at £1bn, as was speculated when rumours circulated earlier this week.
DWS will be demerged from Daisy as part of the transaction but the majority of Daisy shareholders are set to reinvest directly.
O’Brien said: “The announcement today is brilliant news for DWS, brilliant news for our vendors and most importantly brilliant news for our partners.
“From the get-go, it was clear that Inflexion shared our excitement about the UK channel community and the huge potential for growth as SME’s increase their investment in digital technology.
“I’m delighted that Inflexion is joining our team, where we are obsessed with building a great channel-only business, delivering great products and a great experience for partners through a great platform.”
DWS was created in 2019 when Daisy merged three of its trade-only outfits – Daisy Wholesale, Daisy Distribution and Daisy Worldwide – into one business.
Last November the firm announced the acquisition of Giacom as part of plans to quadruple its growth with partners.
At the time it said it was on course to hit sales of £265m in its financial year, which ended in November, representing an increase of seven per cent.
