Ambitious US reseller PCM buys UK Cisco Gold partner

Acquisition of £7.7m-revenue outfit Provista propels ambitious US reseller's UK headcount to 200

US-based reseller PCM has continued its rapid-fire expansion in the UK by acquiring Scottish Cisco Gold partner Provista UK.

Since opening its first UK office in May, PCM has been aggressive in poaching scores of staff from rivals and in September acquired £3m-revenue, Liverpool-based cloud services provider The Stack Group.

The acquisition of Provista, a Glasgow-based network and security reseller with revenues of £7.7m, propels its UK headcount to around 200.

When PCM first announced plans to take the UK market by storm, onlookers argued it would find it hard to make progress unless it found a way to quickly replicate the manufacturer accreditations it holds in North America.

On this front, the Provista acquisition hands it several top vendor badges to hang in its foyer, including not only Cisco Gold, but Avaya Saphire and VMWare Solutions Provider. It also brings PCM additional offices in Aberdeen and Birmingham.

The deal will additionally contribute to its "opportunity to extend its growth of the existing managed services and multi-lingual global service desk within the European region", PCM said.

PCM is known to have walked away from talks to rescue fallen reseller Misco UK in a pre-pack deal in November. In December, PCM CEO Frank Khulusi, however, said the insolvency of a "UK competitor" led it to hiring a host of salespeople, pushing its UK headcount to 169. The new hires took PCM over its $4m budget for setting up in the UK, Khulusi said.

Donavan Hutchinson, managing director, UK & International for PCM UK (pictured) said of the latest acquisition: "With the combined investments that we have made organically, coupled with the acquisition of Provista UK and The Stack Group, we are positioned to accelerate our UK growth across all advanced solutions categories. I look forward to working with the Provista UK team as we jointly continue to take market share."

PCM president Jay Miley added: "We are continuing to follow our global strategy to bring our leading North American solutions to the UK, and this acquisition further expands one of our largest vendor relationships through the acquisition of a UK Cisco Gold Partner."

Stuart Little, director & major shareholder of Provista UK, said: "When PCM contacted us and shared their vision for the UK, it fit perfectly with our own ambitions to accelerate the growth of Provista in the UK. After having built the business to achieve Cisco Gold Partner status, it is exciting to now be able to be part of PCM and take the business to the next level, offering our solutions and services across the UK while complimenting the other robust PCM offerings."

According to PCM, Provista UK hit revenues of £7.7m in its year to 31 July 2017. The deal is expected to be "mildly accretive" to the PCM UK segment, PCM said.