Wheelings & Dealings: Damovo Acquires CTTL

By Oliver VanDervoort
Contributing Writer

One of the up and comers in global unified communications and collaboration services (UCC) is Damovo.  In fact, the company is on an aggressive expansion track as illustrated by its recent acquisition of Luxembourg-based Centre de Télécommunications et Téléinformatiques Luxembourgeois (CTTL). This is the first one carried out by Damovo since it was purchased by Oakley Capital earlier this year.  

The acquisition is part of a “buy and build” strategy being used by the company to rapidly increase its reach and customer list as it looks to grow annual revenues to €200M ($221 million) in the next 3-5 years. This latest acquisition is aimed at making the company one of the largest UC providers in Europe, and represents how the “buy” part of its strategy can enable it to expand rapidly to capitalize on the intense interest in UCC adoption.

What CTTL brings to the table is CTTL is a range of ICT solutions and managed services Damovo is acquiring CTTL’s  voice and UC business, including more than 130 customers and the 14 employees servicing the customer base. As noted in the announcement, all trading will transfer to a new company, Damovo Luxembourg S. à.r.l., which will add to Damovo’s operational presence in Europe, including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Ireland and Damovo’s Global Services business.

As a result of the acquisition Damovo will now have 15 international offices can deliver UCC solutions in more than 120 countries adding to its portfolio of solutions that include: enterprise networks, contact centers, cloud services and global managed services.

“This is the first important step on our journey as we look to grow our footprint and scale across continental Europe. CTTL is a great fit for Damovo as it has a very strong pedigree for voice and unified communications solutions, and has an impressive customer base. It will integrate very easily with our existing businesses. “Damovo is perfectly positioned to accelerate its market share growth in Europe, and we will do this through organic growth and further strategic acquisitions. We’re very excited by the opportunities ahead.” Glen Williams, CEO, Damovo, said in a recent statement.

Vincent Lekens, CTTL, said: “We have partnered with Damovo for several years and have a very close relationship. When we learned of the growth plans for Luxembourg, as part of its strategy of becoming one Europe’s largest UC providers, we decided that the best approach for CTTL and our customers, would be to sell our telecommunications business unit to Damovo. We’re very pleased that Damovo will continue to provide the highest levels of innovation and service to all of our valued customers and stakeholders.”

After years of a lot of promise that went unfulfilled communications as a service (CaaS) has gone from business nicety to necessity. This is one of the reasons why the M&A activity is this sector is picking up momentum as companies realize that in a connected world acting globally but having a local presence is important to their future success.