International fast-growth web hosting business Miss Group has completed its first acquisition of 2023 – web hosting specialist Sered, to further expand its footprint across Spain.
Joining Miss Group’s existing brands in the Spanish market, ProfesionalHosting and ADW, Sered is one of the country’s most established providers of web hosting products, servicing over 25,000 customers with FY22 billings of c. €2.5m. With strong growth across each of these three brands, total FY23 billings across the expanded Spanish portfolio are targeted at + €10m.
Launched in 2009 and headquartered in the Spanish city of Ourense, Sered operates under a co-location model – owning its product infrastructure while renting data centre space to house its servers in Madrid and Barcelona – providing flexibility to scale and better latency for customers’ websites. Its web hosting products range from low value shared hosting packages, through to cloud hosting packages for larger corporations.
Miss Group’s ambitious growth trajectory saw proforma billings for the year ending December 2022 reach €90 million with a 45% EBITDA margin, with excellent billings momentum heading into FY23.
Commenting on the deal, Mattias Kaneteg, Miss Group’s founder and head of M&A, said: “2022 was an exceptional year of growth for the Group and we are starting 2023 in a strong position with the acquisition of Sered, expanding our portfolio of brands to further enhance our international service offering for customers. We have a healthy acquisition pipeline building, and we welcome conversations with ambitious web hosting and associated service businesses that are looking to take the next step.”
Sered’s team of 25 staff will join Miss Group’s team of over 350 people, adding to its customer base of >700,000 businesses globally in the Nordic and DACH regions, Europe and North America.
Daniel Brasa, Sered’s CEO, said: “We are happy to be part of a group that shares our passion for excellent customer care and continuous service improvement. We are confident that this will further enhance the experience for our current and future customers with improved as well as new services.”
Fredrik Björklund, co-founder and CEO of Miss Group, added: “Sered is an important addition to our growing portfolio and will enhance our footprint in Spain to support more customers locally. As part of Miss Group, Sered’s customer base will also have access to an international network of high-quality products and leading services to support their online businesses as they grow.”
Perwyn, a European private equity company, acquired a majority position in Miss Group in February 2020 to support the growth ambitions of the business through international expansion and ongoing M&A. Sered takes the total number of acquisitions completed under Perwyn ownership to 14, and the total number of acquisitions completed by Miss Group since 2018 to 23.
Mark Blower, Partner at Perwyn and Miss Group board member, added: “Miss Group is the epitome of a great growth business, with dynamic management, which is fast becoming a market leader in its sector. The team have proven their ability to grow both organically and via M&A. They made five successful acquisitions last year, in various jurisdictions, and this latest one will again substantially increase its global footprint, consolidating its position in Spain as an important European market. Many congratulations to the whole team.”
Sered was advised on the transaction by:
- Legal advice – Bazarra Abogados SLP (Fernando Bazarra)
Miss Group was supported on this transaction by:
- Legal advice – Squire Patton Boggs (Matt Canipa, Mona Mojtabavi and Alejandra Castaneda)
- Financial due diligence – EY (Steven Kingham and Jace Swift)
- Corporate advisory – Anecta / Translink Corporate Finance (Fredrik Ullberg, Sebastian Süllmann, Josep Pere Gutierrez and Blanca Delclos)
January 2023