Synergy acquires SA integrator

ASX-listed integrator, Synergy Plus, has acquired South Australia-based reseller, C&PA, in a company share deal.

Under the agreement, C&PA’s owners will receive 1 million ordinary shares in Synergy Plus upon settlement, along with an additional 500,000 on January 2, 2011, subject to conditions. The value of the shares will be based on the average trading price five days before settlement.

Established in 1992, C&PA is an ICT integrator focused on the banking, legal and accounting verticals. Its key vendor partnerships include HP, Cisco, Microsoft and Citrix.

Synergy CEO, Garry Henley, said the pair initially began discussions a year ago, when ComputerCorp was looking to boost its traditional HP infrastructure business in SA. Although unsuccessful at the time, the deal came back on the agenda a month ago.

Synergy expects to take half of C&PA’s 20 employees as part of the business buyout. C&PA’s owners will retain the company shell and remain behind.

“It’s a relatively small acquisition – although for SA, it’s significant – and it bulks up our business there around traditional infrastructure services and HP,” Henley said. “It’s part of our strategy to flesh out the smaller branches to get economies of scale, and align our company to what fits in each state.”

Alongside SMB-sized customers, C&PA has a presence in the private school and education space, which would sit well with Synergy’s Queensland and Victorian education intellectual property, Henley said. He also revealed plans to appoint a national education manager to better leverage the company’s education skills nationally.

The C&PA buy comes five months after Synergy purchased defunct rival, Leading Solutions, from voluntary administrators in November, and 12 months after its acquisition of Synergy Plus from Hyro for $9.3m.

In recent years, Synergy has also acquired SME and education players, Victoria-based Paragon Systems and Queensland-based Coretech, to boost its national geographic presence.

Synergy’s shares were trading at $0.042 at time of publication.