£10m data storage reseller Union Solutions sells up

New owner Claranet says acquisition will boost its on-premise and Azure capabilities

Data storage and security reseller Union Solutions has become the latest conquest of acquisitive managed services outfit Claranet.

Claranet has paid an undisclosed sum to acquire the Surrey and Kent-based Microsoft Azure partner, which employs 30 staff and is said to turn over £10m.

This continues an acquisition run that saw Claranet snap up 20 firms in five years, and comes after the MSP secured £80m minority investment from Tikehau Capital last May. Its other recent purchases include UK security provider Sec-1.

Operating in the UK and seven mainland European countries, Claranet now claims to have a revenue runrate of £325m, 1,800 staff and 6,500 clients.

Michel Robert, managing director at Claranet UK, said the addition of Union would boost its presence in the retail, legal and financial services sectors.

"Claranet has acquired Union Solutions to enhance its hosting design, transition, and migration capabilities for large-scale on-premise solutions as well as additional strong Azure skills and offerings," he said.

The founders of Union - including director Jason Rabbetts (pictured) - are staying with the business "for years to come", Claranet said.

Rabbetts said: "Union's data management services, hyper converged platform skills, and Azure specialism - now coupled with Claranet's public cloud and private cloud capabilities - brings an incredibly powerful hybrid transformation proposition to our customers and the general market."