Acquisition gives IT firm Adapt ‘footprint in North’

Adapt, a London-based business with 185 staff and an annual turnover of £45m, said the deal had provided it with “a strategic footprint” in the North of England.

Stewart Smythe, chief executive of Adapt, said: “Both organisations are about delivering the highest quality infrastructure, wrapped in an exceptional support layer.

“Our shared vision is perfect for those organisations who see IT as a strategic asset that must contribute to their competitive advantage and bottom line.”

Adapt has taken on all 20 of the staff at Sleek, which has an annual turnover of £3m. It declined to disclose the value of the deal.

The company said that the acquisition of Sleek has also allowed it to gain more than 20 “enterprise customers”, which it describes as those with substantial revenues and people.

Adapt also said that existing Sleek customers, who already use the provider’s managed private, public and hybrid cloud models, now have the option to “add further scale to their services”. It said that the two businesses share “near-identical values in terms of service quality, technical excellence, customer focus and culture”.

Ryan McCarry, managing director at Sleek, added: “We admire the way Adapt has developed infrastructure designed to serve the needs of the mid-tier and enterprise market.

“It is a credible, knowledgeable provider with quality service values like our own that make it stand out in the sector and our customers are excited about the opportunity it offers.

“It will accelerate growth in our region, consolidate our position and further develop our reputation for quality cloud services.”

Mr Smythe said this acquisition was the opposite of the “brash buy-and-build-strategies being adopted in the sector”.

He said: “Sleek enhances what we already offer to customers and is a very natural fit.

“The acquisition broadens Adapt’s existing IaaS (infrastructure as a service) proposition with accessible entry-level cloud services; for Sleek it’s an opportunity to deliver scale choice to its customers without compromising on the account management and service quality that they’ve come to expect.

“Our combined business represents a real alternative for fast-growing companies looking for more than transactional cloud services, who require a deeper level of support and want an alternative to ‘live chat’ as a method of talking to their hosting partner.”

Mr Smythe said the majority of Adapt’s mid-term growth would be organic, but did not rule out the possibility of future acquisitions. Last year, Adapt acquired Cardiff-based eLINIA.