ITM, an independent maintenance company operating in the UK and France has now been formed, as a result of the management buy-out of Meridian Computer Engineering Ltd from its parent Meridian International. The deal, first reported last week (CI No 1,165), was formalised yesterday. The UK company has teamed up with Ingenierie Technique Maintenance, ITM SA, a second Meridian subsidiary which has just negotiated a similar buy-out. It now becomes ITM Ltd, an independent maintenance company, serving small and mid-range IBM system users in the UK. It will inherit some 40 ex-Meridian customers, and will operate from its old Meridian base in West Drayton, with ex-MECL chief David Donovan, as managing director. Funding for the deal was carried out in France. An unspecified amount of venture capital was provided by the IDI-subsidiary Siclad, while equity was put up by the Banque Nationale de Paris and GNF-owned BCCM. A holding company, ITM Finance, has now been established in Paris in which Donovan and his French counterpart, Daniel Schneider, both hold shares; Meridian has no stake. Four-year-old ITM SA, which has a customer base of some 120, was originally part of IBL Plc, acquired by Meridian in October 1987. Combined, ITM claims a total staff of 85, and a turnover of UKP4.25m projected for the current finan cial year to 31 December 1989. Future plans, accord ing to Donovan, include a move into the DEC arena, and expansion into Spanish, Italian, and German mar kets. Donovan also anticipates bumping into Meridian all over the place, but says he has no idea what the new maintenance angle that was promised last week by chairman Ian Orrock (CI No 1,165), might be.
