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European law firm Fieldfisher has advised field service management software provider Joblogic on its acquisition of Protean Software, one of Joblogic's leading competitors in the sector.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, propels Joblogic into the UK number one position in the field service management software sector.
As well as the absorption of its client base of more than 10,000 users, the transaction includes all related Protean assets and intellectual property. Protean’s 50 employees will be welcomed to the Joblogic team, now located at the company’s central Birmingham offices.
Field service software helps contractors save time, increase productivity, and achieve rapid growth by centralising service operations in one piece of software. It ensures seamless communication between back offices, field engineers, and customers, leading to transparency and overall efficiency.
The acquisition is the first major transaction following Joblogic’s recent cash-for-shares injection by Axiom Equity, and forms part of Joblogic’s ambitious UK and international expansion strategy.
The acquisition is being funded by internal cash flow and a line of credit from new funding partners CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce). Following the deal, Protean’s customers will remain fully supported by Joblogic.
The Fieldfisher team advising Joblogic on the deal was led by Birmingham M&A partner Andy Lawton-Smith, supported by a wider team of banking, tax, technology, employment and IP specialists from across the firm.
Commenting on the closing of the deal, Fieldfisher Corporate Partner Andy Lawton Smith said:
"Having advised Joblogic on its recent growth equity investment from Axiom, we are pleased to have assisted the team on completing its first major acquisition in its growth strategy.
"We have seen that companies that can offer state-of-the art software to streamline business operations have a distinct advantage in a competitive business services market and we are fortunate to be able to offer some of the UK's leading expertise in tech sector M&A.
"Congratulations to the Joblogic team on completing this important transaction."
Commenting on the rationale of the deal Joblogic’s CEO James Whatmore said: "It's a strategic acquisition that's going to accelerate our growth goals for the UK FSM market. We wanted to do this deal for a number of reasons. Most importantly we're scaling up our own teams and trying to hire the best people in the industry. We respect Protean and what they've built over the past 20 years. We know that their team is experienced, built on integrity and is culturally aligned with ours. They're client focused and that's important to us. Also, their customer base is very close to ours. This gives us high confidence in making our collaboration a success."
Joblogic is backed by Axiom Equity, the UK B2B SaaS investor, with debt financing provided by CIBC.