Compel in SCR acquisition

Business will eventually be integrated fully into Compel's rental division

Compel Group has acquired the business and assets of Syscap Computer Rentals (SCR), a subsidiary of Syscap, for about £2.6m.

SCR specialises in the short-term rental of mainly Sun and Hewlett Packard mid-range and enterprise IT systems.

Neville Davis, chief executive of Compel Group, told CRN the business will eventually be integrated fully into Compel's rental division, Hamilton Rentals, but during the transition it will keep the SCR name.

He also predicted "some small rationalisation" of jobs, but said it was too early to say how many and when.

"Hamilton Rentals is already the market leader in the UK, and combining the business with Syscap gives us greater strength," said Davis. "It means we have the largest range of equipment available in the UK."

He added that the firm can meet the needs of any customer in any sector.

"It was a prudently valued acquisition and made sense. Syscap has some excellent staff and we are pleased to have them on board," he said.

The rental market has been slow over the past three years, Davis added. But he claimed it has flattened out and the firm plans to "grow further organically".

Sean Williams, managing director of Syscap, said: "We have decided to concentrate on our core business: leasing and financing. The rental market has suffered recently because of the financial climate and we needed to rationalise what we are doing.

"However, we are pleased that Compel will continue to run the company as it was, but under the Hamilton Rentals name."