LDC, the private equity investor which is part of Lloyds Banking Group, has made a significant minority investment in leading cloud service provider Creative ITC to support its organic and acquisitive growth strategy.

Headquartered in London, and with a global datacentre and operating footprint, Creative ITC is the UK market-leading provider of high-power cloud computing solutions to the global architecture, engineering and construction (‘AEC’) sector. Creative ITC delivers specialist and mission-critical cloud infrastructure solutions, including its Desktop-as-a-Service offering and sophisticated data storage and back-up/recovery products.

Creative ITC’s international data centre footprint allows its solutions to be delivered at high speed and low latency to customers, enabling the business to support demanding application environments and data processing and storage requirements on a global scale. Customers include architecture and engineering giants WSP, AtkinsRéalis and Foster + Partners.

The business has a strong track record for growth. Over the last two years, it has increased both annual recurring revenues and its customer base by >90%, alongside broadening its international footprint which now extends into the Middle East, North America and Australia.

LDC is backing Creative ITC’s management team, led by co-owners CEO Keith Ali and President Eamon Murchan. The firm’s investment and strategic support will help the business to deliver its ongoing growth strategy, along with acceleration into new markets and building out product capabilities. The backing from LDC will also enable Creative ITC to explore complementary acquisitions.

The investment was led by Chris Baker, Partner, and Tom Jervis, Investment Manager, both of whom will join the board as Non-Executive Directors. As part of the transaction, Mark Thompson will also join the business’ board as Non-Executive Chair.

Keith Ali, CEO at Creative ITC, said: “This is an exciting time for our business. Having grown rapidly in recent years, we’re now perfectly placed to explore new markets and continue to enhance the service we offer to our customers.

“The team at LDC has taken the time to get under the skin of Creative ITC and our products and services, and we’ve built a strong relationship with them over a number of years. They have clear and impressive experience in backing businesses like ours, which includes offering flexible funding to support acquisitions, and we’re looking forward to partnering with them throughout this next phase of growth.”

Eamon Murchan, President of Creative ITC, said: “We’re excited to take Creative ITC to the next level. LDC’s understanding of our industry and their belief in our vision make them the ideal partner as we grow and continue to deliver great value to our clients. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together.”

Chris Baker, Partner at LDC, added: “Keith, Eamon and the rest of Creative ITC’s excellent management team combine deep technical domain expertise with in-depth knowledge of the unique technology challenges of the AEC market to deliver exceptional solutions to their customers. The business is growing quickly and is well placed to capitalise on increasing levels of demand, whilst continuing to provide customers with market leading service levels and unrivalled domain expertise. We look forward to working with them to help identify and capitalise on new opportunities.”

Tom Jervis, Investment Manager at LDC, added: “Having known the team for a number of years, we are excited to be partnering with them to support their growth ambitions. Creative ITC has a highly technical and optimised offering which has driven strong levels of customer satisfaction – we are backing the team to build on the brilliant foundations that has taken the business to the stage it is today whilst also expanding into new markets and developing product capabilities.”

LDC has a successful track record in the ICT sector, having made 25 investments into businesses with a total enterprise value of £1.5bn since 2012. Its current ICT portfolio includes a diverse range of businesses including Scotland’s largest independent IT managed service provider Kick ICT, leading telecoms provider Onecom, the global provider of mobile communications Cellhire, and leading internet service provider Wifinity.

LDC was advised by Addleshaw Goddard (legal), BDO (corporate finance), PwC’s Strategy& (commercial due diligence) and RSM (financial due diligence).

Creative ITC was advised by Cavendish (corporate finance) and Osborne Clarke (legal).