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Tessella, the privately-held provider of ‘science powered technology and consulting’, has completed a management buy-out backed by Mobeus Equity Partners. Alan Gaby, Managing Director of Tessella, will lead the business. He’s joined on the Board by Tessella’s Director of Archiving Solutions Jon Tilbury, alongside Grant Stephen and Stephanie Elliott, as well as new Chairman, Steve Curl, and Guy Blackburn from Mobeus. Founder Kevin Gell retains a significant minority stake in the business and a seat on the Board.
Gaby joined the business five years ago from Vega where he was COO and he’ll be looking to use the experience he gained from transforming and growing Vega’s business at Tessella. He’s clear though that Tessella’s ‘next stage of growth’ will build on its existing approach and values, which are unusual. Tessella operates where ‘science and/or complexity meet IT’ and 60% of its employees are PhDs (see Tessella profits from science).
Tessella’s specialist technology and consulting skills continue to be in demand from scientific areas of the life sciences, public sector, energy, consumer and archiving industries. It grew by 7% in FY11 taking its turnover back to nearly £17m (see Tessella benefits from focus). However, avid HotViews readers will remember that Tessella felt the affect of recession the year before when turnover declined by 9% (albeit after impressive 21% growth in FY09). So, despite its solid foundations, the MBO team must be aware that growing the business organically will not be without its challenges ‘in the current economic climate’.
