Elitetele.com kicks off 2018 with Support Span acquisition
Chorley-based voice, hosting and data centre specialist Elitetele.com has announced its latest acquisition just weeks after setting up an internal acquisitions team and announcing it has £20m to spend on M&A activity.
The company has acquired Support Span Group, trading as HighSpan, a specialist provider of telephony system solutions, with expertise in converged voice and data networks, IP telephony and high-touch nationwide support and maintenance services.
The acquisition is Elite’s 16th since 2008.
Matt Newing, founder of Elitetele.com, said: “It made perfect sense to acquire Support Span as we knew them well and they have been a trusted business partner for many years. As a result, we understand how they work, their skillset and expertise, and in turn they understand how we work and our clients. By acquiring Support Span we are bringing on board a highly sought after and experienced engineering team, together with account managers and contract managers who live and breathe telephony systems and maintenance support from whom we know our customers will benefit.”
Rick Pearce, founder and managing director, Support Span Group, added: “We’ve worked well with Elite for years so it made sense when we came to look at selling the business to talk
to them. The combined group will now be able to qualify for Mitel gold status accreditation which will benefit our customers and Elites by providing a more competitive offer. Our customers will also have access to Elite’s comprehensive range of unified communication solutions and IT services.”
Post completion, Elite will have more than180 staff across seven locations, with Support Span contributing 13 staff. Initially Support Span will be dual branded Elitetele.com and later operate under the Elite brand.
Rob Burbidge, CFO, Elite Group and Alex Cliffe, commercial director led the acquisition for Elite, with Gareth McIntegart, Elite’s legal counsel, providing legal advice.
Leveraged finance was provided by the company’s existing lender, Lloyds Banking Group. Support Span was represented by Fieldfisher.
