Six Degrees Group buys CNS Group joining the growing list of summer deals

This summer has been one marked by consolidation in the reseller channel, largely driven by firms acquiring to increase the range of managed services they can deliver.

Six Degrees Group has added its name to the roster of those striking deals adding the managed security skills from CNS Group to its offering.

CNS provides managed security services to both public and private sector customers and has been operating out of London since 1999.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed but the deal will add 50 CNS staff to the Six Degrees headcount and an additional £7m in annual revenue.

CNS also comes with a cyber security operations centre and its Aegis security maturity benchmarking toolset.

“The increasingly complex cyber security threat landscape is a major challenge for businesses, who struggle to align IT resources against the risks they face,” said David Howson, CEO, Six Degrees. “Existing clients want to place more of their IT estate with us, and security is a vital part of the picture."

"CNS Group’s loyal client base, serviced by a strong management team and talented staff, provides the perfect fit to enable Six Degrees to offer a broader set of cyber security services. Together we will continue to work within the key markets in which we operate,” he added.

Shannon Simpson, CEO of CNS Group, said that the acquisition would enable the firm to increase market share and build on its security services.

“With our shared focus on UK data sovereignty and protecting businesses, this is a great move. Working with Six Degrees will enable us to bring our highly accredited security offerings to all of the services they offer, and we will give clients additional peace of mind and assurance that their data assets are safe," he said.

"With a history of successful acquisitions and client care for those acquired with a company, we are confident that this will be a smooth and successful integration into the group,” he added.

This latest deal adds to a growing list of acquisitions involving resellers over the course of this summer. Yesterday Adept acquired Shift F7 and that followed Shearwater buying Brookcourt, Cancom picking up OCSL and HP snapping up managed print player Apogee. There are still a couple of weeks yet which could see that list lengthen.