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Locked EN (Press): Within Reach and Swyx announce merger


Tom Wellige

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Almere/Dortmund, 20 July 2018 - Swyx merges with the Within Reach Group (WRG), parent company of Voiceworks and creates the European market leader for innovative communication services. At the same time, the new Group is acquiring the French software developer Centile, one of Europe’s leading providers of Cloud PBX, unified communications and fixed mobile convergence solutions for service providers and integrators. The combined group will become European market leader in the field of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS).

Three strong solutions for partners under one roof

The group will drive for further growth – both, in the existing countries and via international growth. Currently the group operates in the core markets Germany, the Netherlands and France with activities in 25 countries and more than 500 employees. Stijn Nijhuis, CEO and co-founder of Voiceworks says: "The strategic decision to continue with Waterland as an investor strengthens the buy & build strategy we rolled out earlier. Together with Swyx, Centile and Waterland as a partner we will accelerate growth opportunities on a European scale by proactively making acquisitions and tapping into more growth markets.”

Voiceworks, Swyx together with Centile service through more than 1,450 resellers and service providers approximately two million end users in various European countries. The future head-office will be in Almere and Dortmund and the group will be led by Stijn Nijhuis and Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus as Co-CEOs.

Swyx, the Dortmund-based company, with operations in the UK and France, sells integrated communication solutions through 1,200 resellers in 24 countries. "Outside Germany, Swyx has significant growth potential," says Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, CEO and co-founder of Swyx. "Together with Voiceworks and Centile, we will now be able to exploit this potential. The planned investments ensure that we will become the market leader in Europe for Unified Communications. This gives us the power to remain innovation leaders in a highly dynamic market of IP-based communications", says Ebbinghaus."

Voiceworks, headquartered in Almere (the Netherlands) integrates fixed, mobile and web communications in a cloud product for small and medium-sized businesses and sells them to through over 200 Wholesale partners. The holding company has already grown strongly on its own since 2015.

Unlocking all market segments potential

Dr. Ralf Ebbinghaus, Managing Director of Swyx Solutions, emphasizes the market opportunities and significant growth potential of the new group: "With the competences and products of the three champions we will support our existing partners even better and also offer potential partners new growth and sales opportunities.

New opportunities are offered to partners

Christoph Wichmann, Managing Director of Voiceworks Germany, sees important synergies in the merger: "All parties have been extraordinary successful in their segment and will continue to do so, but with our joint offering we cover a much broader range of the market, from on-premises to public cloud with Swyx as a strong brand, but also in a Whitelabel model, depending on the partners’ needs.”

Centile added to Within Reach

In addition to the merger between Swyx and WRG, the French software company Centile was the first acquisition and added directly to the new group. Bertrand Pourcelot, Directeur Général Centile adds: “With Centile added to the new holding another important step is taken to further expand the UCaaS portfolio towards our partners. The acquisition will bring us to the role of the European UCaaS champion. We look forward to working together”.

“The organic growth and drive for innovation of Voiceworks, Centile and Swyx is remarkable and will be further accelerated through the merger”, mentions Dr. Carsten Rahlfs, Managing Partner of Waterland Private Equity who supports the combination as an active investor.

The transaction is still conditional on merger clearance approval.

 

 

About Within Reach Group
Based in Almere, Within Reach Group B.V. was founded in 2015 and is the parent company of a range of TK/UC companies, amongst others Voiceworks. Each of the labels within WRG contributes to the mission of enabling people within organisations to work together optimally through integrated communication solutions. Through more than 250 reseller partners, Voiceworks provides a total portfolio of IT and communication solutions for the business market. The labels within WRG have a presence in five different countries with eight offices and now offers a complete portfolio of communication technology solutions for SME. Within Reach Group counts approximately 300 employees. For more information, visit www.withinreach.nl

About Swyx
Swyx Groups’ companies develop software-based communication solutions for the requirements of medium-sized companies. A range of suitable phones and other hardware devices complete the product portfolio. With Swyx, users benefit from all the advantages of optimally networked communication: they can increase accessibility, improve processes and ultimately increase productivity. Founded in 1999, as a pioneer in the field of IP communications, the company is now market leader in this field. With more than 1,200 authorised dealers, Swyx is present in 23 countries worldwide. The Unified Communications specialist headquartered in Dortmund, Germany, and with locations in the UK and France, offers both in-house communications solutions and cloud-based variants together with its partners. Almost one million users rely on the technology and innovation leader in the market for IP communication.

About Centile
Centile Telecom Applications is the leading European developer of Unified Communications platforms for operators and integrators. The Centile Any3 architecture – any service, over any network, on any device – meets the needs of business and operators who want to offer advanced professional communications services to fixed and mobile users, regardless of which device or network they are connected to. In the fast-moving fixed and mobile communications market, Centile ISTRA solutions offer customers the flexibility and agility to rapidly develop innovative new services to meet ever-changing customer requirements. Centile was awarded the Frost & Sullivan “Cloud Communication-Value Price/Performance Leadership” for the ISTRA platform and the Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award 2018 for the Mobiis Mobile Application. For further information, see www.centile.com

About Waterland
Waterland is an independent private equity investment group that supports companies in realizing their growth ambitions. With substantial financial resources and committed industry expertise, Waterland enables its portfolio companies to achieve accelerated growth both organically and through acquisitions. Waterland currently manages 6 billion euros of investor commitments. Alongside Swyx and WRG, Waterland has invested in other companies in the IT sector and has substantial experience there. The focus of the Waterland strategy is on “Buy & Build” growth. With this strategy, Waterland has been building successful European market leaders since its foundation in 1999. For further information, see www.waterland.de

Press release on swyx.com

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