TUC Brands today announced the acquisition of Nitro IT Business Solutions, one of the largest managed services providers (MSP) in Canada with headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario. Nitro is celebrating its 25th year in business and was recently named to the MSPmentor® Global 100 list of top performing MSPs and is a long-time member of Ingram’s VentureTech Network. In 2000, Nitro was one of the earliest IT resellers to adopt the managed services model.
Nitro, which generates over $20M in annual revenue, will join managed services franchisor, The Utility Company®, as a key company within the TUC Brands group. The Nitro acquisition was funded by TUC’s capital division, MSPXchange, along with institutional investors.
“We are very excited with the acquisition of Nitro and adding their team of experienced professionals,” stated Mark Scott, CEO and founder of TUC Brands. “A year ago we set out to establish a larger footprint in Ottawa as our flagship market, which the acquisition of Nitro allows us to achieve. What’s interesting is how complimentary the personnel and skillsets are between the two companies with little overlap.”
The Nitro acquisition brings TUC a large customer, revenue and employee base, along with a strong technical bench with key vendor relationships and certifications in areas such as networking, virtualization and security. Nitro key vertical markets include professional services, technology, government, non-profit and healthcare. The company’s managed services practice ranges from small businesses to large national organizations like the Canadian Bar Association®.
“The MSP space has evolved a lot over the past decade. Our senior management team assessed our options and decided we needed to join forces with an organization with national reach and a proven ‘next-generation’ remote managed services operating model to take us to the next level,” stated Larry Poirier, CEO of Nitro. “There’s no question that adding the skills and capabilities of Nitro has the potential to help expand TUC’s service offerings through its franchise network to the small and mid-sized business market.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Nitro will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary with managed services NOC and helpdesk services delivered by TUC.
