Eurotel chief plans a year of acquisitions

VAR hungry for more deals after Griffin buy

Eurotel’s new chief executive will use the muscle of private equity backer Inflexion to make 2009 an acquisitive year for the communications reseller.

Inflexion invested £44m in the Halifax-based firm in 2007. Its first acquisition was closed this month with the purchase of Griffin Internet’s direct broadband customer base, which doubled Eurotel’s previous broadband customer tally of 3,000.

Eurotel is one of Griffin’s biggest UK partners and Nick Williams, chief executive of the reseller, said: “The deal is transparent to customers, who will still receive Griffin’s business grade network.”

Williams joined the company a year ago and took over at the helm last month. He claimed his acquisition strategy was highly flexible.

“There are a lot of businesses struggling but we are not just going to fish on the bottom, we will also look to pick up healthy companies,” he said.

Williams claimed he would not rule out acquiring a firm of a similar size to his own but that he was keen not to “overstretch ourselves”.

Alastair Edwards, senior analyst for Canalys, claimed “both risks and rewards are greater” for firms pursuing an acquisitive strategy in the current climate. “You need to identify the growth hotspots,” he said.