Compel picks up Oracle reseller

Compel has plugged a gap in its ebusiness consultancy portfolio by snapping up top Oracle reseller Midas for £4m.

Compel has plugged a gap in its ebusiness consultancy portfolio by snapping up top Oracle reseller Midas for £4m.

Midas, the only Oracle-certified Advantage Partner in the UK, will be integrated with Compel's Oracle consultancy to form CompelMidas. Rob Thompson, managing director of Midas, will head the group, which will operate as a wholly owned division reporting to Compelsolve, Compel's business systems division. The group will have 60 employees with offices in Hungerford, Warrington, London and Scotland.

Paul Berry, business development director of Compelsolve, said Compel had bought Midas, which it had often used as a sub-contractor, because it could not provide a complete system.

He said CompelMidas will be one of the largest Oracle resellers in the country, and expects the acquisition to generate a lot of business for the company because it can now become involved in bids much earlier.

"This acquisition provides a perfect fit between our existing technology integration skills and our systems focus. With Compel's recent acquisition of Pangaea, we can deliver an unparalleled ability to consult, design and implement a complete back-office to front-office business-to-consumer or business-to-business system and through into the customer interface via the internet," said Berry.

Thompson said he had sold out because Midas had not been able to provide a total system for its customers. "People were saying to us that they didn't just want Oracle front end, they wanted the back office as well. We felt that if we weren't able to provide the whole system, we would get overtaken," he said.

Compel will be a good company to work for and the combined group will be a dominant force in the Oracle market, added Thompson.

Nigel Thomas, marketing director of Oracle's general business, said CompelMidas will retain its Advantage Partner status as it meets the requirements, but the accreditation will be subject to maintaining the required resources and skills.

The acquisition is "positive as it shows the Oracle channel is starting to mature and grow", he added.

Neville Davis, chief executive of Compel, said: "This acquisition is a further important step in Compel's strategy for taking advantage of the internet revolution. We now have exceptional capability to consult, design and implement a complete back office to front office business-to-business or business-to-consumer internet system."