9. NewCMI
Acquirer: BCN
When: April
Deal size: Undisclosed, but NewCMI was a reasonably large bolt-on for BCN, turning over £12m in its year to 30 September 2022 (according to its most recently filed accounts).
How it started:
BCN swooped for NewCMI in April having been lured in by the Northern Ireland-based MSP’s Microsoft skills.
It was Manchester-based BCN’s second acquisition since ECI Partners replaced Beech Tree as its private equity backer in June 2022 (the first being of Microsoft Dynamics 365 specialists, Evo-soft, in September 2022).
The move “reinforces our Microsoft-first approach”, while handing it a foothold in the South East of England and Northern Ireland, BCN stated.
What happened next:
Following the deal, BCN in June announced it had attained all six Microsoft Solution Partner Designations, which it claimed makes it “one of the most qualified Microsoft Cloud partners in the UK”.
NewCMI turned out to be its only publicly announced deal of 2023, however (perhaps not a surprise given the worsening M&A backdrop).
There were 8 bigger trade acquisitions this year. See next page for more…
