Daisy plants founder Riley in charge as CEO Muller alights
Appointments

Daisy plants founder Riley in charge as CEO Muller alights

Neil Muller.png

Daisy Group chief executive Neil Muller has left the British wholesale and channel company after three and a half years in charge.

Muller oversaw a number of acquisitions, including takeovers of Phoenix IT Group and Alternative Networks after joining from Computacenter UK in December 2014.

During his tenure the group was put up for sale with a price tag of £1 billion. A buyer was not found resulting in founder Matthew Riley taking full control of the company again. It has since been linked with another listing, but this has not come to fruition.

A Daisy spokesperson said: “Having successfully led the significant transformation of the Group over the last three and a half years, Neil Muller has decided that now is the right time to pursue a new direction.

“Neil is extremely proud of what Daisy has achieved over recent years, and thanks the entire Daisy team, customers, partners, and shareholders for their incredible support. Neil will continue to watch with interest as the company continues its ongoing development and success.”

Daisy confirmed that founder and exec chairman Riley, who Muller replaced as CEO, will be taking over day-to-day executive duties at the company following Muller’s departure. In an internal memo to staff, seen by the Financial Times, Muller said he was leaving the company to 'pursue a new direction'.

Daisy recently agreed a £175 million deal to buy UK-based broadband provider TalkTalk’s direct B2B business, according to TalkTalk. The deal sees Daisy take over the direct business contracts of more than 80,000 corporate, SME and SoHo customers currently running services on TalkTalk’s network.

The company, which started in 2001 and has carried out over fifty takeovers, went private in 2014, has been very acquisitive over the last few years since it was taken out of its public status in 2014 by the private equity companies Toscafund and Penta Capital, which paid $494 million in 2015.

Follow @jamespearce87

Gift this article