IT channel M&A wrapped: The biggest acquisitions of 2024
CRN lists the major deals and significant M&A moves of the year
M&A remained a lively topic in the channel this year with partner firms turning to buyouts and takeovers in order to scale revenues, capabilities or customers.
According to the Mergers & Acquisitions in the Channel report from Channelytics, the three most popular reasons for European partners acquiring a business were vertical solutions or skills, a mature MSP practice, and cloud sales and service (see table below).
This rationale also featured as one of the highlight intentions with M&A in H1, nine partners told CRN.
But now that we’re drawing the whole year to a close, here are some of the biggest M&A deals that happened in the channel in 2024.
CloudCoCo agrees sale of services business to Aspire for £9.2m
Leeds-HQ managed services provider CloudCoCo Group announced plans to sell its subsidiary, CloudCoCo Limited, to Aspire in October, in a deal valued at up to £9.2m.
Rationale: Part of CloudCoCo's strategy to address outstanding financial obligations and refocus its business.
Non-executive chair Simon Duckworth: “[This] marks a positive step for the group, enabling us to eliminate long-term debt and focus on expanding our value-added reseller operation, particularly in e-commerce, where we see significant opportunity.
“While 2024 has presented trading challenges, we are confident the strategic shift announced today secures the group's long-term future.”
The countdown continues on the next page…
Advania makes ‘landmark deal’ with CCS Media buy
London-based Microsoft partner Advania UK agreed to acquire CCS Media in October, an independent IT solution specialist with over 41 years of experience.
Rationale: The acquisition represents an important advancement in Advania’s strategy to becoming the preferred end-to-end IT services provider in Northern Europe, as it will enable its combined 9,000 customers to transform core business processes, optimise spend and secure operations through a single service provider.
Geoff Kneen, CEO of Advania UK: “Alongside a wide array of leading vendors and partners we will accelerate business outcomes and help ambitious organisations to deliver their transformation and sustainability agendas through leading technology and unparalleled expertise.”
Bechtle acquires UK’s Qolcom
October also saw Bechtle’s acquisition of Newbury-based IT specialist Qolcom.
Rationale: The deal provides increased market share, a larger headcount, and the ability to synergise and mesh portfolios to spur additional growth, especially when expanding further in the network-as-a-service (NaaS) space.
James Napp, MD at Bechtle UK: “The Qolcom team’s knowledge, expertise and strong customer and vendor relationships will add significant strength to Bechtle UK’s position in the mid-market, enterprise and public sector networking and security space.”
Focus Group acquired by Hg
The UK VAR secured investment from private equity firm Hg in April, making it the latest addition to the ranks of Britain's private company unicorns thanks to its new $1bn valuation.
Rationale: Hg's investment will support the reseller's organic growth plan, M&A ambitions and product development initiatives, enhancing its ability to deliver innovative solutions for the UK SME sector.
Nick Jordan and Joris Van Gool, Partners at Hg: "The long-term trends in small business technology adoption offers Focus Group a great opportunity to continue its impressive growth trajectory by offering a one-stop-shop for ICT for UK SMEs.
"In partnering with the Focus Group leadership and close to 1,000 exceptional colleagues we are excited about the opportunity to build a national champion in this industry."
boxxe acquires Total Computers
York-HQ boxxe kicked off 2024 with the completion of its Total Computers acquisition, just over a year after boxxe CEO Phil Doye first invested in the business.
Rationale: The deal exposes boxxe to a new set of clients and adds further growth prospects to a business that has already seen rapid organic expansion over the past two years.
Phil Doye, CEO, boxxe: "We've got a larger combined business with bigger, greater financial strength. One of the things that the Total business has suffered from is that their customers want to do more business with them, but for the larger projects or contracts they represent a financial risk, says Doye.
"Being part of the boxxe group, that issue goes away. We transact some of the largest deals across the public sector and our financial strength gives our customers the confidence to really commit to our relationship. Our market positioning is different to that of Total."
Conscia enters UK and Ireland with ITGL acquisition
Danish Cisco gold partner Conscia debuted in the UK and Ireland in February with its acquisition of digital transformation provider ITGL.
Rationale: To enter the UK market
Erik Bertman, CEO: "Conscia covers six countries. Since we wanted to be a leader in Europe of course we want it to be in the UK as it's such a large market in our industry.
"When we were looking at companies to join the Conscia family, for us it was very important that we had a cultural shift in terms of being driven by competence and trying to help and solve customer challenges.
"ITGL fits very well with us in terms of culture and being driven by the curiosity of always improving in terms of competence."
SCC acquires Microsoft partner Resonate
SCC announced its third acquisition in 12 months in February with its takeover of cloud voice and collaboration services provider Resonate.
Rationale: To build out SCC's services portfolio and access to the public sector
Graham Fry, MD of collaboration: "Over 50 per cent of our business is in the public sector and Resonate didn't have access to those markets.
"An area where people are trying to do more with less is across the public sector. So suddenly, you've opened up that whole market to Resonate and I think that's where we'll see a lot of growth this year."
Christine Olmsted, former head of strategy & corporate development: "SCC has invested to build services around the Microsoft toolset, including an Azure platform, Azure managed service, as well as a cybersecurity service.
"Those are organic investments, but when we looked at the rest of the portfolio, we saw an opportunity to do inorganic growth, acquiring skill sets and services that help us bring more to our clients.”
Tech veterans acquire Saepio and take helm as co-CEOs to spearhead growth
In April security MSP Saepio was acquired by tech veterans Amir Nooriala and Daniel Cardenas-Clark.
Saepio founders Rob Pooley and Andy Pitt remain as significant shareholders and board members of the business.
Rationale: Saepio's growth potential
Amir Nooriala: " We see strong synergy between all our skill sets and experience, which will enable Saepio to achieve its full potential on an international scale, without any compromise to the industry leading level of support clients currently receive."
Core Technology Systems acquires Velocity IT for skills
MSP Core Technology Systems snapped up automation technology specialist Velocity IT in a move to advance its strategy to drive growth and innovation, aligning with its objective to exceed its £15m revenue target in 2024.
Rationale: Broadening Al and automation capabilities
Conor Callanan, CEO: "Velocity IT is a perfect fit for Core, not just in terms of technology and expertise, but also in culture and values.
"This acquisition is a growth story. It's about bringing together two like-minded companies that share a vision for innovation and excellence. We are excited to welcome Arno and his team to the Core family and to be able to expand our offering and value provided to our customers."
Wavenet and Daisy Corporate Services merge
This duo made a huge announcement in May when they revealed a merger between the two had been finalised, seeing Daisy Corporate Services separate from Daisy Group and absorbed into Wavenet.
The blockbuster merger passed regulatory approval in the months to follow, with the combined business operating under the Wavenet brand as a result. Existing Wavenet CEO Philip Grannum stepped up to lead the unified company.
Rationale: To form a leading MSP serving more than 20,000 UK enterprise customers, valued at £500m.
Bill Dawson, Wavenet chairman: "We are thrilled to be joining forces with Daisy. By combining our strengths, resources and expertise, we are poised to create a stronger and more innovative organisation, well positioned to maximise on the rising tide markets of cyber, cloud and intelligent networks.
"Daisy is a well-known and well-respected business, and both parties bring unique but complementary strengths to the table. Our shared vision is to create a best-in-class business that will help shape the future of next generation technology."