Chess has completed the acquisition of Herts-based O2 and EE airtime distributor Avenir Telecom. The deal adds £22m (£1.6m EBITDA) to Chess' annual turnover of £44m-plus (2013 figures) along with a 500 dealer base, a 30,000 B2B connection base and 55 staff who remain stationed at the distributor's Borehamwood HQ. The deal strengthens the mobile and partner services division of Chess.
Chess CEO, David Pollock said: "We are delighted to welcome the Avenir people to Chess. It provides a complete end-to-end processing and support service to partners wanting to offer mobile and fixed line telecom services. They've been very successful over the past 25 years and we're delighted to add their knowledge and expertise to our Partner Services business."
Following the acquisition, Andy Tow, Avenir's MD, becomes MD of the newly formed Chess Partner Services division.
He stated: "This is a fantastic opportunity to continue developing the airtime business, building on our established mutual successes and working towards our shared vision, continuing to deliver a great service to all of our partners."
Richard Btesh, Director of Chess, added "Over the years we have often been approached by sellers of mobile customer bases, but this is the first opportunity we've had to acquire a solid market leader that gives Chess a real opportunity for partner and mobile growth.
"Being a great place to be a customer is the key to our success, this acquisition strengthens our proposition with such a strong synergy between our core values and culture."
Chess has completed over 80 deals in the last eight years. Avenir is the latest in a string of strategic acquisitions including The CRM Business, Microsoft's leading European partner for CRM Online; and eBillz, one of the UK's top telecom billing providers and Integra ICT.