The biggest partner and distributor acquisitions of 2025
CRN ranks the most lucrative and significant channel M&A deals of the year
The first half of 2025 saw its fair share of headline deals, but H2 climbed even higher.
After a shaky start to the year, deals came in thick and fast as the year went on. Partners have been taking out their wallets as if at an auction, on the hunt for anything from skills, customer base, geographic expansion or headcount.
According to accounting firm Moore Kingston Smith, the UK service provider sector recorded 343 M&A moves in the first half of the year, roughly on par with H1 2024.
But a number of mega mergers have happened since then, worthy of outshining H1.
As is tradition, CRN ranks the biggest acquisitions of 2025 by revenue, headcount and significance.
Wales’ Flotek secures more UK growth
Who: Simpology, Microshade
Why: To boost local skills and delivery
Revenue acquired: Simpology £1m, Microshade - undisclosed
Total revenue post acquisitions: £18.5m
Headcount acquired: Microshade - six, Simpology - five
Total company headcount: 134
Cardiff MSP Flotek has made a whopping 14 acquisitions since its inception in 2022, three of which were made in 2024 alone.
This year has been no different, with the firm snapping up two companies.
The first was St Ives-based Simpology UK, which brought in an extra £1m, growing Flotek’s headcount to 120 people.
The addition of Simpology allowed Flotek to boost services for SMEs and multi-site companies in London, Cambridge, and surrounding areas.
The Welsh MSP then marked its fourteenth deal in June with Microshade Business Consultants.
The investment was said to bolster IT support and cybersecurity services for local councils across the country and grow its private cloud offering, as well as add six new heads to the team.
Redsquid’s red hot acquisition spree
Who: CJAZ, Cyberseer, RedMosquito, Computer Security Technology, Itek Systems Management
Why: Regional growth
Revenue acquired: Undisclosed
Total revenue post acquisitions: £25m
Headcount acquired: CJAZ - 4, Cyberseer - 14, RedMosquito - 20, Computer Security Technology - 15, Itek Systems Management - 11-50
Total company headcount: 124
Hertfordshire-born MSP Redsquid has spent much of 2025 consolidating other services providers in Scotland.
The business now has three offices in the land of plaid with its acquisitions of RedMosquito, Itek Systems Management and IT Hotdesk (acquired in 2024).
Redsquid CEO Sohin Raithatha told CRN making sure it’s “the best MSP up there” is high on his priority list.
But deals haven’t been limited to just Scotland, with Redsquid also snapping up London-based MSPs Computer Security Technology, Cyberseer and CJAZ in April and November respectively.
Following the Cyberseer deal, Redsquid’s headcount stood at 120 people in total.
It then bought CJAZ several weeks later, adding another four technical team members to the MSP’s workforce.
Raithatha also told CRN he hopes to close out 2025 with £40m in revenues (pro forma).
QBS’ META expansion
Who: Prianto, Elmer Yazılım Danışmanlık, Emerging Market Technology
Why: Growth in Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region
Revenue acquired: Prianto - €194m, EMT - undisclosed, Elmer - undisclosed
Total revenue post acquisitions: $600m (£459m)
Headcount acquired: Prianto - 170, EMT - just under 50, Elmer - undisclosed
Total company headcount: 400+
The first distributor to make the round-up, QBS has made six acquisitions in the META region over the last 34 months, and 15 in total since 2018.
The distie kicked off the year with a fresh acquisition in Prianto, allowing it to generate recurring revenues nearing $600m, and a headcount of more than 400 professionals across 12 geographies.
QBS then followed this up by taking over Elmer Yazılım Danışmanlık in March as part of its strategy to tap into emerging markets, particularly across META, cementing its third Turkish buyout to date.
Last but not least, QBS acquired Dubai-based VAD Emerging Market Technology (EMT) to propel its vendors’ technologies into new territories.
Advania scours Europe for skills
Who: Visuell Teknik, The AI Framework, Gompute, smartvokat
Why: To enhance capabilities in services for public and private sector clients, AI transformation, and legal and compliance service delivery transformation
Revenue acquired: Undisclosed
Total revenue post acquisitions: Advania UK - £452m, Advania Group - SEK 15.1bn (£1.18bn)
Headcount acquired: Undisclosed
Total company headcount: Advania UK - 1,377
Advania Group has been on an acquisition run across Europe this year after significant M&A activity in the UK in 2024.
The first of its string of buyouts came in the first month of the year, with Swedish audio-visual and meeting room technology specialist Visuell Teknik.
The idea behind this deal was to jack up Advania Sweden’s service capabilities for both public and private sector clients of the reseller.
The Nordic partner then acquired in Sweden again in the summer, welcoming The AI Framework to the fold.
Explaining to CRN where this new business would fit in with the business’s European and UK strategy, former CEO Geoff Kneen said this was not a standalone move but part of a long-term, carefully constructed AI journey for the business.
Returning to its home turf once again, Advania bought Swedish high-performance computing and AI infrastructure platform Gompute to help clients meet data sovereignty requirements.
And finally, staying in mainland Europe, the Norwegian-HQ group snapped up German system house smartvokat to strengthen its legal and compliance service delivery transformation capabilities.
Exertis bought by AURELIUS
Who: Exertis IT
Why: It was an attractive, well-sized company that offered significant potential for operational improvement and growth
Revenue acquired: £2bn
Total revenue post acquisitions: Undisclosed
Headcount acquired: Undisclosed
Total company headcount: Undisclosed
Exertis IT gained a new private-equity owner after DCC Group sold the £2bn-revenue distributor to German PE firm AURELIUS.
The deal, first announced in July and completed by November, was for an enterprise value of around £100m.
The acquired businesses included Exertis UK Business and Consumer, Hypertec, Exertis Supplies, Exertis Ireland, Macro EV, Exertis Supply Chain Services, MTR and Ztorm.
The deal does not include the newly rebranded Hammer business.
Speaking with CRN after the initial news broke in the summer, Exertis IT CEO Tim Griffin was upbeat about the distie’s new owners.
“They have an incredible access to assets that will enable us to move faster.
“They have capabilities in a whole host of areas that will really accelerate our growth agenda.”
Service Express and Park Place Technologies unite
Who: Service Express and Park Place Technologies
Why: Following a majority investment from private equity firm Warburg Pincus, the merger will enable the duo to expand geographical reach and offer a broader range of technical capabilities
Merged revenue: Service Express - £63.1m, Park Place - undisclosed
Merged headcount: 3,000+
The channel kept us waiting until Q3 for its first ‘mega merger’ of 2025, when Service Express and Park Place Technologies announced their union.
After investing in Service Express last year, private equity house Warburg Pincus announced it would also be taking a majority stake in bigger fish Park Place from existing backer Charlesbank.
Both brands boast a strong UK presence, ranking 41st and 74th in CRN’s Top VARs respectively.
Once the deal is completed, the combined business will employ over 3,000 staff and serve more than 25,000 customers across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
SoftwareOne absorbs Crayon
Who: Crayon
Why: To create a global leader with operations in over 70 countries
Revenue acquired: FY24 NOK 7bn (£523m)
Total revenue post-acquisition: CHF 1.6bn (£1.5bn)
Headcount acquired: Undisclosed
Total company headcount: 13,000
Though technically announced last year, Switzerland-based SoftwareOne’s takeover of Norwegian solution provider Crayon didn’t complete until July 2025 following shareholder and regulatory approval.
So it makes the list as our second ‘mega merger’.
The merger created a group with total annual revenue of around CHF 1.6bn and a workforce of roughly 13,000 employees.
Melissa Mulholland, formerly CEO of Crayon took the role of co-CEO of SoftwareOne alongside its existing chief exec, Raphael Erb.
In its first quarter results announcement as a combined entity, SoftwareOne posted a revenue surge of 46 per cent year-on-year on a reported basis to CHF 343.2m (£328m) in Q3, reflecting the Crayon acquisition which closed July 2.
Although, on a combined like-for-like basis, group revenue declined 3.2 per cent in reported currency to CHF 344.2m (£329m).
Softcat’s first ever
Who: Oakland
Why: AI and data capabilities
Revenue acquired: Undisclosed
Total revenue post-acquisition: Undisclosed
Headcount acquired: 70
Total company headcount: Undisclosed
Marking its first acquisition since it was established in 1993, the UK’s number one VAR Softcat bought data and AI consultancy Oakland in April.
Founded in 1986, Oakland partners with vendors like AWS, Google, and Microsoft.
In the twelve months to 31 December 2024, the organisation generated around £10m in revenue.
Softcat CEO Graham Charlton told CRN the VAR intends to further leverage Oakland's AI and data capabilities “to help customers manage, enhance, and govern their data.”
“Softcat and Oakland together can offer unbeatable support and execution.
“We can scale that capability to more and more customers over time.
“The Oakland team will be part of developing the vision we have for our data, automation and AI capabilities, and we'll invest in them and that vision for the long term.”
boxxe takes over CAE Technology Services
Who: CAE Technology Services
Why: As part of its strategy to grow its customer base in both the private and public sectors
Revenue acquired: £119.6m
Total revenue post-acquisition: Undisclosed
Headcount acquired: 305
Total company headcount: Undisclosed
Boxxe made waves in July with its takeover of number 22 ranked Top VAR CAE Technology Services.
The deal was reportedly part of number 11 ranked boxxe’s strategy to grow its customer base in both the private and public sectors.
It was also hoped to boost boxxe’s capabilities within networking and security through CAE’s expertise in the field, as well as the firm’s partner accreditations with Cisco and Microsoft.
In addition to its presence in the private sector, CAE has a strong customer base in the public sector, especially within healthcare and education.
Head of CAE Justin Harling resigned from his role following the deal announcement, with boxxe CEO Phil Doye becoming group CEO.
CAE chief corporate development officer Richard Behan also left in September.
“CAE sets itself apart from the competition with its focus on customer outcomes driven by innovative solutions and managed services,” said Doye.
“boxxe has to deliver technology solutions that solve critical business challenges and propel our customers forward.
“This strategic acquisition enables us to do this more effectively.”
Trustmarque and Ultima merge
Who: Ultima Business Solutions
Why: After looking for a while, Trustmarque started a conversation with Ultima and realised their offerings complemented each other’s
Revenue: Trustmarque £498m, Ultima £73m
Total revenue post-acquisition: Undisclosed
Headcount acquired: Undisclosed
Total company headcount: Over 1,000
The number one spot goes to the UK channel’s biggest and most recent ‘mega merger’ - Trustmarque and Ultima.
The duo are aiming to reach £1bn in GII post-merger.
Leading the combined organisation is Trustmarque CEO Simon Williams, while Ultima CFO Jamie Beaumont will keep his title following the unification.
It is unknown yet what Ultima chief exec Scott Dodds’ role going forwards will be.
Speaking to CRN shortly after the announcement, Williams explained what led to the merger.
“We’ve been looking for a while, so we started a conversation [with Ultima] and realised that our offering complemented each other’s.
“We thought this would a massive opportunity for our teams, as with scale, you get bigger opportunities, bigger growth, as well as bigger development opportunities for our clients.”
He added that Trustmarque has “very strong” Microsoft, networking, Cisco, Aruba, Juniper, and cyber practices which will fit perfectly with Ultima’s Microsoft, HPE, and Citrix capabilities.
“We've got some brilliant IP, Ultima has got some brilliant IP, and so bringing those together brings more opportunities from a channel perspective to all vendors and partners in the market.”