Atturra to acquire consulting firm Exent for up to $8M

Atturra has put in an offer worth up to $8 million to acquire advisory and consulting firm Exent.

The deal is split into an upfront consideration of $6 million in cash, with up to an additional $2 million up for grabs through earn out/post-completion consideration based on performance hurdles for the first half of the 2025 financial year.

According to a statement published to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Atturra exchanged a share sale agreement with Exent through its Advisory subsidiary.

The IT solutions provider claimed the purchase price, including upfront and deferred consideration, 6.5 times higher than Exent’s forecast earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) contribution to Atturra in FY25, excluding integration costs of less than an estimated $400,000.

Atturra CEO Stephen Kowal said the provider has worked with Exent previously through its local government and education clients, claiming the firm has a  “highly regarded reputation in advisory”.

“As part of our growth strategy, we have been seeking the right opportunity to harness our strength, expertise and reputation in Canberra and Defence to expand our advisory business into the commercial sector,” he said.

“The acquisition of Exent with its complementary expertise gives us the perfect entry point.”

Exent founder Joe Fazzari said that the company was “looking carefully” at its next stage of growth and a strategic acquisition “made perfect sense and Atturra was the perfect partner”.

“Exent’s capabilities in business transformation, complex technology advisory and implementation, process re-engineering and people change are perfect complements to Atturra’s scale and depth in technology,” he said. “Atturra is an excellent fit on capability, culture and mission.”

If successful, the transaction is expected to be complete on or around 31 July.

Atturra’s proposed acquisition of Exent comes as the provider released unaudited results for its 2024 financial year, which saw revenue rise 35 per cent year-on-year, to over $240 million.

In the financial year prior, the company’s revenue sat at $178 million.

Underlying EBITDA was also up 19 per cent, rising to $25 million to $26 million.

While the company’s full results will be released on 26 August, Atturra said Cirrus Networks has been integrated into the business and as a result secured over 20 federal government deals in the second half of the financial year, as well as delivering on expected revenue and underlying EBITDA during the six months to 30 June 2024.

“FY24 has been a transformational year for Atturra,” Kowal said. “We have been actively pursuing a strategy to build our managed services capabilities and we have successfully integrated the managed services acquisitions, Somerville, Sabervox and Cirrus, into one strong performing business unit.

“We are proud of the way our people have managed the integration of these businesses to rapidly scale our managed services capabilities. Despite the challenges always inherent in these processes, we have delivered on our forecast and closed many deals to enter FY25 with a strong backlog. 

The acquisition and the announcements of its recent initial financial results come more than a week after it announced its hand in implementing a Boomi solution to help automate the Catholic Development Fund’s corporate card reconciliation process.