| Location: UK | US | |
| Deal type: Exit | |
| Silverpeak team: Paddy MccGwire, Christopher White, Matthew Gemmell, Ben Palmer |
Silverpeak, the mid-market technology specialist that represents European growth businesses in M&A and financing transactions, has acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders on the sale of Avvio, including institutional investor Calculus Capital.
This move brings together two of the industry’s most dynamic, entrepreneurial companies and follows Serent Capital’s investment in SHR in 2020. Serent Capital sponsored the acquisition of Avvio through SHR to create a technology powerhouse for independent hotels and chains with unrivalled customer support across the world.
Headquartered in Limerick, Ireland, and founded in 2002 Avvio has been a pioneer in hotel technology for 20 years. In 2017 it launched the world’s first AI powered booking engine, allora.ai. Today allora.ai provides technology to over 500 hotels around the world and powers over £400m in transactions every year.
Silverpeak worked closely with management and shareholders on this transaction, leading a global twin-track private equity and strategic process accompanied by a full suite of vendor due diligence; reaching out to an international audience within a highly competitive process. Silverpeak supported management on the refinement of their business plan and operating model, shaped the equity story, negotiated key transaction terms and skilfully navigated the shareholders through an increasingly complex and evolving economic backdrop.
The eventual acquirer optimally allowed for an exit event as well as participation for management as part of a wider hotel technology group. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, SHR is a revenue generating platform that helps hotels to execute their best revenue generation strategies through its tightly integrated central reservation system (CRS), customer relationship management, and revenue management systems. It supports over 1,500 independent, group, casino and long-stay hotels, manages over 6 million reservations, sells 19 million room nights and drives £2 billion revenue per year through its Windsurfer CRS.
Frank Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder of Avvio Limited said, “Silverpeak understood what we wanted and delivered a great buyer paying an attractive price. Throughout the process Silverpeak’s team were passionate about the Avvio business and sector whilst providing wise counsel, problem solving and strategic positioning. Our dedicated Silverpeak team were impressive from day-1 and quickly established a strong, collaborative relationship with us. I was impressed by their global reach to all the relevant strategic buyers and private equity bidders, and they designed a process that allowed me to continue as an investor in the business going forward“.
Sean Finnan, Chairman of Avvio Limited said, "I found the Silverpeak team energetic on the details and thoughtful on the strategic approach which led to a very positive outcome for all concerned. Would definitely recommend them to anyone evaluating partners for a company sale"
Paddy MccGwire, the Managing Partner at Silverpeak said “Avvio is an exceptional hotel software business led by co-founder CEO Frank Reeves, with strong international growth. We ran a global twin-track PE and strategic sale process, selecting Texas headquartered SHR,, as they were not only a great strategic fit, but also provided an opportunity for the CEO Frank to roll some of his proceeds into the combined business”.