Repton ready to buy in 2006

VAR reveals it has its eye on nine companies that offer complementary services to its own

Ambitious VAR Repton has revealed it may acquire up to nine companies from next year, after quashing rumours that it was on the verge of being acquired itself.

Speculation had mounted last week that Repton was in the process of being acquired, but Greg Carlow, managing director of the reseller, dismissed the rumours.

“We are talking to eight or nine businesses about the possibility of us acquiring them, but not the other way around. We do not have an acquisition plan, but there are businesses out there in trouble and in complementary areas to Repton. We are talking to them about joining us,” he said.

Carlow said any acquisition would be in a complementary area, such as communications services, and he added that Repton would add eight new sales people, expand its leisure industry focus and grow its technical headcount by 100 per cent.

Jeremy Davies, senior partner at analyst Context, said that going on the acquisition hunt could be a good idea for Repton as it allows the VAR to cover all of its bases.

“Repton has pressures from multiple angles and the best way to counter that is to grow by acquiring a range of value-added capabilities,” he said.

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