German IT firm Bechtle AG has further boosted its presence in the UK with the acquisition of Newbury-headquartered systems integrator Qolcom Limited.
Founded in 2005, the deal links Bechtle's existing southern locations in London and Chippenham. In all, Bechtle has a presence in 14 European countries and a network of partners in every continent.
Qolcom has 44 employees and achieved revenues of €30 million in the last fiscal year. The sale underscores its aspiration to drive growth under the umbrella of a large international group while securing the succession of some of its leadership team with Keith Reading, remaining with the company as general manager.
Bechtle has been successfully established on the UK market for over 26 years and provides companies and public sector customers with a comprehensive portfolio of hardware, software, solutions and services.
With Qolcom, Bechtle employs around 370 staff across five sites in the UK.
"We are delighted to be bundling our expertise with Bechtle’s extensive portfolio," said Keith Reading, managing director at Qolcom.
"This marks an important milestone in our company’s growth and our customers will benefit very much from Bechtle’s holistic eco-system, especially on the international stage.
"We are looking forward to our future together, which will offer exciting development opportunities for our employees as well."
Konstantin Ebert, COO at Bechtle AG, added: "We have been very successful in expanding our footprint in the British market over the past three years, and our open and inclusive culture certainly has played no small part in that.
"Qolcom is a perfect match for us - both in terms of its people and its portfolio - and we are looking forward to writing the next chapter in our success story together."
Following the acquisitions of IT service provider ACS Systems in November 2022 and value-added reseller, Tangible Benefit in March last year, Bechtle continues to increase its share in the UK’s B2B market with the purchase of Qolcom.
