Servium CEO Paul Barlow has characterised its sale to Advania as “a really good next step for the business”, as he stressed he is “going nowhere”.
Nordic giant Advania finalised a deal to acquire the Chessington-based reseller on Friday, in a move that will ensure a payday for the majority of Servium’s employees.
Advania’s UK arm had been hunting a VAR acquisition to complement its existing MSP business since last year.
Talking exclusively to IT Channel Oxygen, Barlow claimed that Servium will strengthen Advania UK’s skills in several areas, including in traditional technology provision.
Conversely, Advania UK will “supercharge” Servium’s Microsoft offering, with the duo boasting combined revenues of £180m-£185m, he said.
“They are so strong with Microsoft. It really is like going from the Championship straight into the Premier League,” Barlow said.
“It’s going to give us a lot more reach, and a lot more internal skills sets and offerings, so we’ll be able to work with our customers to solve more of their IT challenges than we have in the past.”
“This is about everyone”
Barlow founded Servium in 2010, having previously been MD of Equanet.
The HPE, Dell, HP and Lenovo partner has around 50 employees.
But Barlow was quick to stress that Servium has never been “the Paul Barlow team”.
Although Servium has three major shareholders in Barlow, CFO Patrick Wyly and a private US investor, its senior leadership team also all hold shares, while just over 13% of the business is in an employee share option scheme.
“We always thought when we set the business up that this was one of the pre-requisites. It wasn’t just about two or three shareholders,” Barlow said.
“We are very pleased that the majority of people who work for Servium will have benefited from the share option scheme. I think that’s the way all businesses should go. It isn’t about the person at the top, or the board at the top – it’s about everyone.”
“I’m going nowhere”
Employing 5,000 staff, Nordic powerhouse Advania leapt into the UK in December 2021 via its acquisition of managed services provider Content+Cloud. Advania UK ranked 35th in the recent Oxygen 250.
Barlow said it was important that Servium is being acquired by a company with a similar culture.
“This is a really good next step for the business. It creates real opportunity to go further with our customers on their IT journey, but I also think it creates a lot of opportunity for the people within Servium,” he said.
Barlow himself is “going nowhere”, he stressed.
“I think all of the senior leadership team are looking to continue with Advania in the future,” he said.
“Advania wants to keep the skills set within the business and create opportunities for people within the business.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
