Private equity backed managed service provider doubles in size with two acquisitions

John Whitty, CEO of Air IT

Private equity backed managed service provider Air IT has doubled in size with two acquisitions which expand its reach into the West Midlands and London.

Nottingham’s Air IT has swooped for Birmingham-based MSP Microtrading and London-based IT managed service provider (MSP) Netstar UK, for an undisclosed sum.

Recently backed by August Equity Partners, the deals have enabled the Air IT group to double its size in just nine months; making significant strides towards its goal of becoming the UK’s largest SME focused cloud managed services provider.

Air IT, Netstar and Microtrading have all been successful in maintaining organic growth over the last three years, consistently delivering greater than 20% year on year growth, serving over 800 clients.

John Whitty, CEO of Air IT, said: “Since the investment and commitment made by August Equity Partners to back our growth strategy, the team have been hunting for solid businesses who share our dedication and ability to serve the SME market. We are delighted to have found these, despite the recent pandemic, with Netstar and Microtrading who are both extremely capable, successful, and exciting businesses with very talented teams, which will result in the doubling of staff to 140 people.

“Like Air IT, they are both famous for delivering excellent service whilst also sharing our strong cultural values. The inclusion of their teams will provide additional depth and expertise to support the innovative and business enhancing services provided to our customers. These acquisitions represent the first step towards achieving both our organic and acquisitive goals which is supported by a strong and mature pipeline of similar deals.”

Mit Patel, managing director and Founder of Netstar, said: “We are delighted to join the Air IT group. Netstar has consistently invested in our people, systems, processes and product portfolio and we will continue to provide excellent service and strategic technology advice to our customers. Our clients will now further benefit from a broader service portfolio, including Cyber and Business Intelligence (BI) Solutions.”

Andy Penlington and Neil Marlowe, joint managing directors of Microtrading, added: “We have spent almost 40 years developing and growing our business into a successful and agile organisation, and the time is right to take the next step and allow our customers to benefit from our significant joint capability and technical investment. We are all very pleased that the Air IT values and culture are extremely close to those already present within Microtrading, which will make the integration of the businesses so much easier.”

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