Demonstrating it has no plans to rein in its acquisition spending as the credit crunch dominates the news, Chess made the joint acquisition of Hemel Hempstead based Lo-Rate and Platinum Telecom’s customer bases, announcing the news at its summer Conference on Friday 13th June following a company wide brainstorming session, on how to successfully integrate 5000 customers, should the need arise!
The profiles of Lo-Rate and Platinum Telecom’s customer bases are from diverse business and geographical sectors. Currently, all acquired customers subscribe to fixed line and call services, providing a wealth of opportunity for Chess to cross sell products such as business class broadband and mobile.
The economic downturn clearly has not had an effect on Chess’ appetite for acquisitions as these latest deals take its total to 27 in the last four years. This experience has established Chess’ reputation as the leading consolidator in the telecoms market, giving it further leverage to approach increasingly significant targets and win increasingly bigger deals – the key factor that led the vendors of Lo-Rate and Platinum Telecoms to Chess.
Chess’ successful acquisition track history is largely a result of the importance it attaches to successful integration seeing each individual acquired customer at the core of its long term growth strategy.
By focusing on customer retention and continuous growth of the base, Chess maximises the value of the acquisition for the customer, the seller and itself. Closely monitoring the success of every integration process enables Chess to demonstrate tangible benefits to telecoms businesses wishing to capitalise most profitably on their customer base.
“Chess has played a leading role in the consolidation of the telecoms industry in recent years,” said Chief Executive David Pollock. “It’s great to get another one under our belt and there will certainly be more to come. In every acquisition the emphasis is on getting a thorough understanding of the base and carrying out a considered integration process. Chess is now acknowledged as a market leader in consolidation and able to offer exceptional customer service, additional products and, from the point of view of the seller, a smooth, profitable deal, plus the option to continue operating in the market. If anyone is considering exiting the market, they’d be crazy not to talk to Chess!”