Clearwater International has advised the shareholders of BCN including Beech Tree on the sale of the business to ECI Partners

Clearwater International has advised Beech Tree and the other shareholders of BCN, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent Managed Service Providers in the north of England, on its sale to ECI Partners.

BCN Group is a leading digital transformation and technology solutions provider in the UK, delivering a range of managed IT services covering both private and Public Cloud (Microsoft Azure), Microsoft Modern Workplace solutions, application development, data analytics, security, and connectivity to over 1,000 customers. BCN is headquartered in Manchester with three further offices across the North, including Leeds, Runcorn and Bradford, employing over 200 people, including over 150 trained support staff and technical engineers.

The business supports over 1,000 clients to deliver and manage business-critical technology solutions to over 30,000 users, with a customer retention rate of 98% and an industry-leading client satisfaction score of 89%.

Clearwater International previously advised BCN on its investment from Beech Tree in 2018. Since then, Beech Tree has helped BCN to accelerate growth from €12m (c.£10m) turnover to over €47m (£40m), through strong organic growth and executing a strategic acquisition strategy. The business has evolved its capabilities from largely reselling IT hardware and IT support to providing a comprehensive digital transformation offering across the Microsoft stack. BCN has also made significant investments in its people and systems, resulting in the business being able to service thousands of customers efficiently with leading levels of customer satisfaction. The investment by ECI will provide capital to continue this buy-and-build strategy going forwards.