The newly enlarged Network Utilities will also gain its own on-premise data centre and 24/7 Network Operations Centre in the UK and new offices and staff in the Middle East, Caribbean and West Africa to support an expanded roster of international clients including Cable & Wireless, Judiciary of Trinidad & Tobago and Nutrien.

The combined company has over 400 enterprise and service provider clients including many listed within the FTSE 100 along with household names in financial services, education, healthcare and manufacturing.

“This acquisition marks a great day in our 25 year history and brings together two companies that have a highly regarded and trusted reputation with clients and partners,” said David Bundock, Chief Operating Officer. “As one of the oldest serving specialist solution providers with customer relationships that span over a decade, Network Utilities has focused on excellence over growth. However, with this deal, we now have the depth and breadth of people, technologies and services to expand our customer footprint without sacrificing the values that have made us so successful.”

Michele Lewington, one of the original founders and Managing Director of Network Utilities for 25 years commented: “I am delighted to hear this news. The two companies have worked together on various projects over many years and both bear the hallmark of ethics and service that customers have come to expect. My heartfelt thanks go to those Network Utilities employees who are amongst some of the most talented, hardworking and loyal of all in the industry. It is their commitment to the business over many years that has enabled me now to leave the company in safe hands to enjoy semi-retirement and the pursuit of other interests.”

The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will see Network Utilities take over all staff, premises and ongoing maintenance contracts from Metropolitan Networks with a full equivalency of agreed service level agreements. All staff will consolidate at new headquarters in Orpington which will also maintain the new Network Utilities NOC and data centre.

“Metropolitan Networks has grown rapidly, and the last 15 years has been a fantastic journey,” explains Ashok Thomas, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Metropolitan Networks. ” However, to keep on meeting the expectations of our clients while expanding the business proved challenging through organic growth alone. This investment by Network Utilities and the merging of expert technical and sales teams into a new entity offers our existing clients more benefits, including access to some of the best security focused people in the UK plus a management team that have vast experience in successfully growing a business over the last two decades.”

The new company holds top tier accreditations from key vendors including Juniper Networks, Pulse Secure and Fortinet as well as in-house CISSP experts and Security Clearance for its ongoing work with several UK governmental and security agencies. Network Utilities also holds ISO 9001 and 27001 certifications.

“At a time of uncertainty around the UK’s place in Europe, the deal also expands our footprint into new regions around the world such as the Middle East, the Americas and Africa where, although initially small, we have long established, international clients that offer us growth potential,” says Paul Rowe, Sales Director, “Our enlarged size and new areas of the business such as training, private cloud and Cyber Essentials certifications also provide us with a more rounded portfolio that allows us to offer additional value added services that are beneficial to both existing and new customers.”