Wavenet makes good on M&A pledge with Solar takeover
Comms VAR dips into £75m acquisition war chest
Chippenham-based VAR Solar Communications has been acquired by Wavenet for an undisclosed fee.
The deal sees Wavenet support its recent pledge to embark on an M&A spree after raising £75m in funding.
Wavenet CEO Bill Dawson said: "Solar is an extremely capable and exciting business with a very talented team. Its combination with Wavenet will provide added depth to the innovative and business-enhancing services provided to both sets of customers.
"Solar has been successful developing the platform, people and services required for growing the business both organically and by acquisition. This has accelerated its transition from being a leading telephone system reseller in the UK to becoming a fully managed cloud service provider, able to provide superlative technology and a fully managed service.
"We very much look forward to welcoming John and the team to the Wavenet Group. Personally, I'm more excited about the market now than I have ever been."
Wavenet claimed that the combined company will now serve almost 10,000 companies in the UK.
Solar's CEO John Whitty will remain with the firm and play a "key role leading the integration of the businesses".
Whitty said: "Following an intensive 30 months of growing our business into a successful and agile organisation, the time is right to take the next step and allow our customers to benefit from our significant joint capability and experience in the UC market.
"We are all very pleased that the Wavenet values and culture are extremely close to those already present within Solar, which should make the integration of the businesses so much easier.
"I am looking forward to being part of the Wavenet team and further helping the group to develop and deliver the cloud UC components."
Solar Communications was ranked 176th in CRN's Next 100 research, with a revenue of £14.8m. Wavenet also saw sales hit £14m in its last financial year.
The pair were both featured in CRN's Comms Provider Report which is available exclusively to CRN Essential subscribers.