Arrow Business Communications acquires Microsoft Gold partner Circle Group

Acquisition of Circle is Arrow's fifth of 2021 following private equity backing

Arrow Business Communications has acquired IT consultancy and solutions provider Circle Group - the VAR's fifth acquisition so far this year.

Circle claims it hit £25m in annual revenues after acquiring Gold-level Microsoft Dynamics partner Fabric IT earlier this year and offers services in areas including managed IT support, Microsoft Cloud and cybersecurity.

Arrow, which was backed with a £50m war chest for acquisitions from private equity firm MML Capital Partners at the start of this year, has also acquired collaboration solutions provider Pescado, cloud MSP AIMES, SD WAN service provider UK-tec and networking business Complete Networks this year.

It claims its most recent acquisition will add solutions which are "complementary to Arrow's" and claims there are "strong synergies with recent acquisitions" which will "facilitate the group's organic growth and expertise in these areas".

Richard Burke, CEO Arrow Business Communications, said: "I believe this acquisition completes Arrow's solution portfolio and ensures we continue to provide relevant solutions across our three customer demographics of enterprise, public sector and mid-market.

"I am really excited to welcome the Circle and Fabric teams into the Arrow family. The cultural alignment of the businesses has stood out throughout the acquisition process, which in addition to the high level of technical skill sets across the organisations that will enhance Arrow's cloud, Microsoft and networking capability even further following recent acquisitions, I'm sure the partnership moving forward will be a great success".

Cardiff-based Circle also partners with Dell and HPE Aruba and counts UKTV, Harrison Clark Rickerbys and Cardiff University among its notable customers.

The company's founder and owner, Roger Harry, will become a major shareholder within the Arrow Group as part of the acquisition and "will play a pivotal role in the strategy and the growth of the business moving forward", Arrow said.

"I am delighted that Circle has joined Arrow Business Communications and look forward to the opportunities that Circle will see as a result," Harry said.

"Over the coming years I'm excited to continue to drive the growth of the business as a major shareholder in the group. It is an exciting new chapter for us."