M & A Rainmaker

IT services and solutions provider 365iT appoints Pieter Hooft as non-executive director

Appointment of Non-Executive Director

Basingstoke 21st December 2009: 365 iT plc, the IT services and solutions provider, is very pleased to announce the appointment of Pieter Hooft as a non-executive Director of the
Company.
Pieter Hooft is currently Managing Director of UK Investments for LMS Capital plc, the LSE listed international investment group. He has over 15 years’ investment experience in
management buyouts and development capital in the UK and across Europe.
Commenting on this appointment, Peter MacLean, 365 iT’s
chairman and chief executive, said: “I am delighted to
welcome Pieter to the Board. He has extensive experience of
helping companies achieve rapid and profitable growth and I
look forward to his contribution to the Board and to his
expertise and support for the continued development of the
Group.”
Pieter previously worked at Apax Partners and JPMorgan
Partners. Since joining LMS Capital in November 2006, Pieter has joined the boards of
Updata Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, Entuity Ltd, Kizoom Ltd, ITS Engineered Systems Inc and
First Index Inc.
Pieter is a Dutch national and is fluent in French and German. He was educated in The
Netherlands and at HEC Paris.

Notes to the Editor
365 iT plc was founded in 2005 and now employs over 85 people. Through its wholly owned
subsidiaries (365 iTechnology Ltd, 5i Ltd and 7 Global Group Ltd), the group provides an extensive
range of IT services and solutions that address the nine strategic functional areas in IT operations and
management: IT Managed Services, Unified Communications, Business Continuity, Data Backup, IT
Security, Virtualisation, Networks, Storage Solutions and Infrastructure solutions.
Enquiries:
Stephen Bean
Marketing-Alliance,
Tel: +44 (0) 7747 100000
www.365iTechnology.com

http://www.iconcorpfin.co.uk/

http://www.nortonsgroup.com/nortons/services/corporate/

Contact: Rory or Ian.

An M & A Adviser can say things to your potential future boss that you probably could say but probably don’t want to !! Remember this !!

Earlier on we mentioned that ideally your M & A Adviser should be a good salesperson and a good negotiator. They are laying out the key dates of the process to prospective buyers and cajoling and encouraging them to keep to the process. The threat of competition is, subtly, ever present. Not rammed down people’s throats but always there.

Your Adviser has a sensitive and complex role. It takes practise to manage multiple buyers ( perhaps with intelligent buying teams – perhaps not ! ) and you.

You do not want to be going through a learning curve in negotiating and handling multiple buyers whilst trying to achieve the best outcome for the sale of your business.  Although in general M.D.’s of companies are good salespeople and good negotiators that does not mean that they are good sellers of companies.

When the offers come in they will come in in a range of formats and a range of actual offers. An experienced M & A Adviser will help you analyse them and compare them. Again you will be amazed at the variations that come in. Potential buyers almost never value the opportunity in the same way and to the same value.

As discussions progress your M & A Adviser will seek a “ Heads of Terms Agreement “ from the potential buyer. This is a development on from the Indicative offer and a firm step towards the “ Sale and  Purchase Agreement “.

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This blog post is a part of a series of posts describing The Sales Process – you can access the other parts of the series from the links below:

• Making the decision
• Alternative Options to an exit by trade sale
• Getting ready to sell
  
• Timing
• Finding an M & A Adviser – The Beauty Parade !!
• Who/where are the buyers
• “The Teaser”
• Prioritising Interest
• The Sale Document – your greatest ever sales proposal
• Presentations
• Offers
• Negotiations and Heads of Terms
• Due Diligence
• Contracts
• Closing the deal
• Objective Parties