Owner of UKFast cloud hosting firm plots £400m sale

The private equity backer of the technology company previously known as UKFast is exploring a sale that it hopes will fetch a £400m price tag.

Sky News has learnt that Inflexion, the buyout firm, has hired investment bankers to orchestrate a sale of ANS, which provides cloud hosting services to corporate customers.

UKFast was rebranded as ANS in the wake of revelations in the Financial Times in 2019 about the conduct of UKFast’s founder, Lawrence Jones.

Mr Jones was convicted of rape and sexual assault in 2023, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In December, he was stripped of his MBE, which had been awarded for services to the digital economy in 2015.

Arma Partners is understood to have been hired to advise on the sale of ANS, which was acquired by Inflexion in 2021.

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ANS was founded by Scott Fletcher, a former child actor who appeared in television shows such as Casualty and Jossy’s Giants.

The combined group, which is based in Manchester, is expected to be worth between £300m and £400m, according to banking sources.

Prospective bidders are expected to include other private equity firms.

Inflexion declined to comment.