Lumine Group | MDS Global Acquisition Case Study

Why Sell?

MDS Global was looking to expand their operations overseas and to extend its product portfolio. It was looking for external support to support this process.

Why Lumine?

Lumine’s buy-and-hold-forever acquisition philosophy meant the business would never be re-sold, and customers and employees could feel secure in its continuity.
Lumine has the organizational infrastructure and proven expertise to support business growth and expansion overseas.
Lumine could reliably provide the capital necessary to accelerate this growth.

Background

MDS Global Ltd. (MDS Global) was founded in 1987 as part of Martin Dawes Telecommunications Ltd. (MDT), a pioneering Mobile Virtual Network Operator in the UK. MDS Global started as MDT’s in-house billing system. When MDT was sold to BT Cellnet in 1997, MDS Global was spun-out as a stand-alone business.

Today, MDS Global is a leading provider of revenue management, business assurance, and analytics software to telecommunications service providers that serve tier 1 & 2 customers. MDS Global’s solutions are deployed on-premise and in the cloud. Flagship long-term customers include British Telecom, Telefonica O2, eir, ACN Europe, Telia, Post Office UK, TalkTalk, and ID Mobile.

MDS Global had seen great success operating with a customer base primarily located in the UK. More recently, they had expanded into new global markets. MDS Globals’ competitors included some of the largest software companies in the world and they were concerned that their relatively small footprint would limit their growth.

Why Sell?

“No matter how successful we were becoming, size was always going to be an impediment to gaining more business and growing more quickly,” said MDS Global’s CEO at the time of the acquisition, Gary Bunney.

Being a relatively small player also impacted customer perceptions. Customers had expressed concerns that MDS Global could be bought by one of their operator competitors or another trade player.

In order to grow and expand, MDS Global realized they needed the backing of a big company that could provide access to capital and operational expertise.

MDS Global then began looking for a partner who they felt confident would have their best interests in mind and provide them with the resources and capital to grow. They had options for procuring additional funding from banks or private equity groups, but that wasn’t what they wanted.

What did MDS Global want? A long-term home for the company that could provide proven growth drivers and access to capital for growth initiatives.

3 Reasons MDS Global Chose Lumine

Buy-and-Hold Forever

“Lumine is in it for the long term and that gives security to our customers,” said Bunney. “This is a one-time acquisition that makes sense for both organizations. I know that we won’t be flipped and re-sold.”

Proven Engine Driving Global Growth

With support from the Lumine ecosystem, MDS Global will plan for overseas expansion. “We now have better global access and access to people who have expertise in these geographies,” said Bunney. “It allows us to take some shortcuts – and save some money – in terms of how we put down these new foundations.”

Access to Capital

MDS Global knew that to win new customers they needed an acquirer they could trust as well as capital to accelerate their growth.

What’s Next for MDS Global?

MDS Global will continue the process of expanding their footprint overseas. Moving forward, the MDS Global team will continue to integrate with Lumine and learn from hundreds of best practices gathered from 70+ acquisitions over the years. “Everything said in the due diligence period has come to pass in the first 60 days of this integration period,” says Bunney. “Lumine is honoring the commitments they made to us.”

MDS Global plans for growth and global expansion with Lumine