One of IBM’s top UK partners, CSI, has sold up to global datacentre support giant Park Place Technologies.
Ohio-based Park Place said the deal for IBM Power Systems specialist CSI will bolster its multi-cloud capabilities.
Ranking 101st in the recent Oxygen 250, CSI was forced to perform a debt-for-equity swap in September 2023 after spiking interest rates left it unable to service its debts.
New owner Permira Credit parachuted in former CEO Alan Watkins to run the £50m-revenue business, with Watkins telling IT Channel Oxygen in November that CSI had since successfully returned to growth.
Park Place characterised London-based CSI as an “IT MSP specialising in hybrid multi-cloud solutions for legacy IBM systems”.
Founded in 1983, CSI serves medium-to-large enterprises in highly regulated industries such as financial services, manufacturing and retail.
Park Place billed the deal as the second-most significant in its history behind only its 2020 acquisition of similar-sized peer Curvature.
It comes less than two years after its last UK acquisition in the form of Xuper.
Third-party datacentre maintenance specialist Park Place claims to have 2,200 staff globally. It ranked 47th in Oxygen 250 2025.
Acquiring CSI “accelerates our vision of becoming the world’s most comprehensive, customer-focused IT lifecycle partner,” Park Place CEO Chris Adams said in a canned statement.
“Through our discussions with Park Place, it quickly became clear that we share a common vision and an unwavering commitment to service excellence,” CSI’s Watkins (pictured top) stated.
“Joining the Park Place Technologies family is a natural next step – and one that brings exciting benefits to our clients, employees, and partners alike.”
