The management team at GovNet, the UK’s leading provider of public sector events, has completed a management buyout (MBO) of the company. This move – spearheaded by CEO James Tucker – will allow the business to execute an exciting growth strategy moving forward, which includes strategic acquisitions.
GovNet is an award-winning events provider and a crucial platform for the public sector to connect with solution providers across Education, Healthcare, and Technology. It supports and trains its communities to learn, connect, grow and deliver world-class public services. Over the past four years, GovNet’s key exhibitions and conferences include the Schools & Academies Show, HETT (Healthcare Excellence Through Technology), DigiGov Expo, Modernising Criminal Justice Conference, and the Counter Fraud Conference.
The buyout follows a comprehensive reinvention and modernisation process, which started in 2019. GovNet has reimagined and reimplemented almost everything to be as scalable as it is today, including working culture, tech stack, leadership structure, product strategy, customer experience and governance processes. It was supported in the latter stages by Collingwood through its Scaleup programme. The Collingwood Corporate Finance team provided full lead advisory support to execute the debt-backed MBO, led by Tucker, and funded by Kvika, the Icelandic challenger bank.
Tucker joined GovNet as COO in January 2019, responsible for the day-to-day running of the business, before taking on the role of CEO at the beginning of 2021. He said: “This is a landmark moment for GovNet, our leadership team, and our incredible colleagues who continue to work tirelessly to deliver exceptional experiences and connections to drive better public services across the UK.
“This exciting development provides a platform for us to go full throttle in 2025 and the years that follow. We’re not saying goodbye to our past – it makes us who we are today – but it’s a pivotal moment for us. Now we focus on delivering relentlessly for our customers and audience, making it easy and fun for them to join us on the journey we’ve embarked upon.”
Adam Shaw of Collingwood said: “We are delighted for James and the entire GovNet team. It has been a privilege to support the business in its ambitious transformation over the last two years and we look forward to working with GovNet on their future growth plans.”
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
