Chorley firm Elite dials up 16th deal in a decade

The telecoms firm has acquired Support Span Group Ltd (trading as HighSpan) a specialist provider of telephony system solutions.

In 2017 Elite’s expanded sales team won several new system support contracts.

Previously the firm has sub-contracted to Support Span.

Matt Newing, Founder, of Elitetele.com said: “It made perfect sense to acquire Support Span as we knew them well and they have been a trusted business partner for many years.

“As a result, we understand how they work, their skillset and expertise, and in turn they understand how we work and our clients.

“By acquiring Support Span we are bringing on board a highly sought after and experienced engineering team, together with account managers and contract managers who live and breathe telephony systems and maintenance support from whom we know our customers will benefit.”

Rick Pearce, founder and mManaging director of Support Span Group Ltd said: “We’ve worked well with Elite for years so it made sense when we came to look at selling the business to talk to them. “The combined group will now be able to qualify for Mitel gold status accreditation which will benefit our customers and Elites by providing a more competitive offer.”

When the deal goes through, Elite will have more than 180 staff across seven locations, with Support Span contributing 13 staff. Initially Support Span will be dual branded Elitetele.com and later operate under the Elite brand.

Rob Burbidge, CFO, Elite Group and Alex Cliffe, commercial director led the acquisition for Elite, with Gareth McIntegart, Elite’s legal counsel, providing legal advice.

Leveraged finance was provided by the company’s existing lender, Lloyds Banking Group. Support Span was represented by Fieldfisher LLP.