Based in Liverpool and originally spun out of the University of Liverpool in the early days of cloud computing, AIMES was founded by Professor Dennis Kehoe alongside Jane Hetherington, Finance Director, and Richard Spragg, Technical Director.
AIMES provides secure co-location services, advanced cloud services and cloud-based research enabling technologies from its 200 rack, 1.5 megawatt secure data centre. This is primarily to NHS, healthcare and public sector bodies in the UK.
The deal further strengthens Arrow’s healthcare specialism following recent acquisitions in this space.
Dennis Kehoe, chief executive of AIMES, said: “The deal allows us to de-risk whilst becoming a part of a larger professionalised business where together we can deliver on our growth plan in the coming years.”
Richard Burke, chief executive of Arrow, said: “We knew Knight had a long-standing relationship with AIMES and so we approached them to see if there was an opportunity for a potential acquisition.
“We see AIMES as being fundamental to leading the development of our data and cloud propositions and hugely complementary to the recent healthcare sector-focused acquisitions we have made.
“It was great that we could use our successful, long-standing relationship with Knight to create a successful process and can now welcome AIMES to the Arrow Group.”
Paul Billingham, director at Knight Corporate Finance, who led the transaction with associate director David Middleton, added: “This deal demonstrates the value of knowing your niche and being able to effectively communicate that to find a buyer who values this specialism.”