Manchester-based FourNet has acquired SVL Business Solutions, creating a combined customer experience and AI business with revenues of around £65m.
The deal brings together more than 230 employees and over 450 customers, building on a working relationship between the companies spanning nearly a decade.
Glasgow-headquartered SVL employs 41 people and specialises in contact centre and customer experience transformation. Its expertise includes interaction recording, analytics and workforce management, with its services broadening into wider customer experience transformation and AI over the past five years.
FourNet said the acquisition would strengthen its delivery capacity, particularly in financial services and other regulated markets. SVL’s customers also operate across utilities, public safety and other enterprise sectors.
Both companies work with many of the same technology partners, including NiCE.
Richard Pennington, co-founder and CEO of FourNet, said: “We have known SVL and worked alongside its people for nearly a decade, so we know exactly what we are getting: talented specialists who provide an excellent service to organisations where services simply have to work.
“This acquisition is about three things: people, customers and technology. SVL’s team shares our commitment to customers and culture, its customers operate in many of the same sectors as ours, and we work with the same technology partners, with complementary skills and services.
“Joining forces with SVL deepens capabilities FourNet already has and gives us greater capacity to help more customers transform.
“Organisations are now moving AI out of pilots and into everyday customer service. They need help proving its value, redesigning the customer journeys and processes around it, and implementing it safely.”
FourNet combines consultancy, customer experience and AI services with cybersecurity and operational capabilities. The company said SVL would add specialist skills and expand its financial services customer base.
SVL customers will continue working with the same people, while gaining access to FourNet’s wider team and services.
David Kindness, CEO of SVL Business Solutions, said: “Our customers stay with us because of our people, our expertise and the quality of service we provide. Joining FourNet protects those strengths while giving our customers a much larger team and a broader range of capabilities behind them.
“We have worked with FourNet for many years and share the same approach: employing specialist people, delivering excellent service and doing what is right for the customer.
“This gives our people greater opportunities to develop, gives our customers access to additional expertise and investment, and provides a strong platform for SVL’s continued growth.”
The deal is FourNet’s fifth acquisition since 2020. Earlier purchases include global network specialist 01T, acquired in 2023.
Private equity firm Palatine took a majority stake in FourNet in 2021.
James Painter, partner at Palatine, said: “SVL represents a highly strategic acquisition for FourNet given the complementary customer base and technology partnerships. It brings specialist expertise which strengthens FourNet’s customer experience transformation proposition into mission-critical sectors.
“This is FourNet’s fifth acquisition since 2020, and we are delighted to continue to support Richard Pennington and the management team as they build a unique platform in the sector through a combination of organic growth and carefully selected acquisitions.”
