Instalcom Limited, a division of OCU Group Limited (“OCU”), is delighted to announce the acquisition of Opals (UK) Limited and Opals Services Limited (“Opals”) today; the 12th of August 2022. Opals provides telecommunications infrastructure services across all disciplines of digital communications networks from its headquarters in Peterborough. The company brings a wealth of specialist fibre experience to OCU, helping to support Instalcom as it develops and expands its fast-growing telecoms offering across the South and in particular, the East of England.
Vince Bowler, Managing Director of Instalcom, commented;
“We are delighted to welcome the Opals team into the OCU family as we look to further grow the business in line with our Group strategy. The acquisition of Opals represents another significant step in our ambition to become a leader in full fibre network delivery and expands our presence into the East Midlands and East of England. Under Sam’s entrepreneurship and guidance, the Opals business has flourished, and we look forward to working with Sam and the Opals management team.”
Sam Hodge, Managing Director and Founder of Opals, commented;
“Opals and I are delighted to become part of OCU, a business that is at the forefront of the fibre roll-out across the country and very much aligned with our culture and strategy. There are many synergies between the businesses; not only will these allow us to expand our capacity for our customers but crucially accelerate the deployment of fibre in the East Midlands and East of England. I believe OCU to be the ideal partner, given they share our vision of providing a responsive, professional, and innovative service to our market leading customer base.”
Michael Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of OCU, added;
“Today’s acquisition of Opals expands our business capabilities and further reinforces our presence in the South and East of England. The expertise and experience that Opals brings is a welcome addition to our portfolio and will prove highly complementary to our existing operations and long-term expansion plans in the Telecoms and wider multi-utility sector.”
About OCU:
OCU is an innovative service provider in the Utilities Industry; operating on a national scale. The Company delivers a wide range of customer-focused business solutions throughout the UK and Ireland, working with a large blue-chip client base in all utility areas including; Power, Telecoms, Water, Rail and Directional Drilling.
On the 4th of August 2022, OCU was acquired by Triton Partners, one of Europe’s leading investment firms. Triton was founded in 1997, with a belief in engaging with boards, managers, and employees to build better businesses, primarily in Northern Europe. The company focuses on developing medium-sized companies with the potential to create sustainable, long-term value. Triton operates from 12 offices across the world with their current portfolio of companies having combined annual revenues of over €18bn.
Instalcom is the Southern Delivery trading division within OCU and is a fast-growing organisation that prides itself on being innovative utility engineering experts that always provide an exceptional level of service for our clients and the millions of customers associated with them.
About Opals:
Opals started trading in 2012 and has grown within the industry to become an established and leading network infrastructure services company, offering an extensive range of complementary services covering civil engineering, fibre optics and traffic management. Opals has a workforce of over 200 employees and contractors and delivered revenues of c.£10m in its latest accounts.
Working with network operators to design, build, maintain and repair full fibre network infrastructure, Opals’ customer base includes Upp, Netomnia and Openreach where they provide a total delivery solution from their East of England head-office in Peterborough.
