“Our placement in the Deloitte Buyout Track 100 is fantastic news for everyone at Azzurri and we are delighted to have the endorsement of an internationally respected company such as Deloitte,” comments Martin St Quinton, CEO, Azzurri Communications. “This research shows the success that companies such as Azzurri have had in Britain and further backs up Azzurri’s commitment to excellence and growth.”
Azzurri’s placement in the Buyout Track 100, is the latest in a long line of achievements for Azzurri, including; Microsoft Tech Track 100 in 2004 and 2005, the Microsoft Tech Track 100 Best Management Team award in 2005 and the Deloitte Fast 50 and PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track in 2006.
Formed in June 2000, Azzurri Communications is one of the largest converged voice, data, and managed service companies in the UK. Since 2000, it has made 16 acquisitions including DVH Group, MiTech Group and Sirocom, in October last year. Azzurri itself was acquired by PPM Capital, the private equity arm of Prudential plc, for a cash consideration of £182.5 million in June 2006.
Buyout Track 100 companies make a substantial contribution to the economy.
Together, they employ 96,000 people and improved their profits by an annual average of 37% over the past two years to reach a total of £1.1 billion in their latest accounting periods.
This is the first year The Sunday Times Deloitte Buyout Track 100 has been published. It is compiled by Oxford-based research and networking events company Fast Track. Companies have to be registered in the UK, be independent, unquoted and ultimate holding companies. At least 20% of a company’s shares have to be owned by a private equity fund or venture capital firm.