Member Article

Selection Services acquires communications firm, 8el

Bromley-based I.T. firm, Selection Services, has acquired Aggregated Telecom, which trades as 8el, in the first of a series of proposed purchases.

The firm said the deal, which was backed by Palatine Private Equity and Beechbrook Capital, will enable it to offer better service capability through networking, connectivity, voice and hosted telephony.

Together the companies will boast revenues of £37m and almost 400 employees, as well as a joint offering of a full suite of IT services.

8el is based in Reading and was founded in 2001 by Justin Hamilton-Martin, who commented: “We are delighted to have concluded the deal and take our place as an integral part of Selection Services going forward.

“Our services are perfectly complementary to those already established within Selection’s portfolio.

“This really excites me because it enables us to present a very powerful proposition to our combined clients. It truly enables us to promote the ‘Single Technology Partner’ status.”

Barclays bank provided additional working capital for the acquisition, after advice was given to Selection Services by Grant Thornton, Tenon, CIL and Gateleys.

Tony Dickin, partner at Palatine, commented: “We are really pleased to have concluded the second acquisition following the original MBO in December 2011.

“Importantly the acquisition brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Selection team in managed communications and access to new customers.

“Overall it strengthens our position as we continue to become the UK’s leading managed service provider to the SME market.”

Selection Services’ managing director, Grahame Harrington, added: “This acquisition significantly enhances and matures our service offering and client proposition. It is the first of what is hoped to be several acquisitions this year.

“The transaction accelerates our growth and evidences our desire to establish Selection as a market leading managed service provider, offering robust enterprise-wide solutions predominantly to the SME community.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .