Solihull managed IT services provider secures investment for growth

Published by

Nicky Godding

Solihull-based managed IT services provider, Acora has secured investment from Palatine Private Equity LLP, as it looks to expand its service capabilities through a buy-and-build strategy.

Acora was founded in 1986 as IT value-added reseller ADA Computer Systems Ltd. In 2006 the current CEO David Rabson led a management buyout.

Since then, the business has developed from a traditional service desk provider with a regional presence to a UK-wide organisation with a 300-strong multi-national client base and headcount in excess of 300. Acora operates three service centres in West Sussex and the West Midlands, with a sales office in Central London and a small number of staff across mainland Europe and the US.

Acora is led by Chairman Richard Atkins, CEO David Rabson, and CFO Gary Page and has more than 300 employees.

The business has focused heavily on organic growth through its ‘Gold Partner’ relationship with Microsoft, which has allowed Acora to expand its range of services to include Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics support. The company has also scaled up through two major acquisitions in the last three years. In 2017, Acora merged with Plan-Net, another owner-managed IT support and services company, and in 2019, it acquired Just Computing, a managed services provider.

The backing from Palatine Private Equity will allow the business to renew its focus on acquisitive growth, as it eyes opportunities that will offer both scale and new capabilities. As well as this, Palatine will support Acora’s value creation plan as it looks to invest in people to support its processes, and new technologies which will enable it to offer clients the best in class cloud transformation and support.

Tony Dickin, Partner at Palatine Private Equity, said: “We are delighted to have completed our investment in Acora. Throughout the process we have continued to be impressed by the quality of the senior management team, the strategy they have developed and the foresight they have shown in investing in high quality people and processes ahead of growth."

David Rabson (Acora CEO), said: “The key focus now is to continue to develop and grow our capabilities to support our loyal staff and customer base. We anticipate making further corporate announcements throughout 2020.”

Acora were advised by Paul Russell at BDO and Mark Howard at Charles Russell Speechlys and their respective teams, with additional Financial support from RSM. Palatine were advised by Rebecca Grisewood and her team at Gateley.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.