Bristol and London law firm Temple Bright has advised on the sale of IMEX Technical Services, one of the UK’s premier providers of tailored IT solutions, support and consultancy, in a deal worth more than £5m.
The former shareholders of Swindon-headquartered IMEX, Tony Payne, Dan Williams and Keith Cleverley, all continue to work in the business under new owner, leading UK cloud service provider Atech Support. 
Atech Support secured significant investment this year from Pelican Capital to support its acquisition-based growth plans.
IMEX was one of the UK’s first Microsoft Gold Partners (SME) in the UK and Atech Support, headquartered in the Thames Valley, is also a Microsoft specialist.
Atech co-founder Tim George said: “The acquisition of IMEX will help us meet the increased demand for our cloud services and expertise, which has accelerated during the past two years as a result of the pandemic. We look forward to building on IMEX’s success.”
Tony Payne added: “Customer service has always been at the forefront of our operations so we wanted to find a like-minded buyer, committed to delivering the same level of service and expertise to our valued clients and partners; we found that in Atech and are looking forward to helping Atech generate yet more success for those clients and partners.
“The sale of IMEX has been the successful culmination of many years of work and obviously a very significant step for me and my co-founders. It was a real pleasure working with Temple Bright.
“Their work was ably led by our corporate lawyer Jonathan Poole, who brought in a team of specialist colleagues – Carol Tricks on tax, Chloe Ricciardi on employment, Chris Crane on technology and Comron Rowe on pensions.
“The firm’s partner-only model seems ideal for work of this kind. All members of the Temple Bright team were absolute experts and they made themselves available, often at short notice, to give valuable input in an unfailingly practical and good-humoured way.”
Jonathan Poole, pictured, said: “Having worked with Tony in IMEX’s early years, it was particularly rewarding to advise him and his colleagues on the sale of their business many years later.
“The buyer, and their advisers at Peregrine Law, were very good to work with and we were delighted to play a part in completing the deal in such a positive and constructive manner.
“Atech is strongly positioned for its future plans and still more so now, with the addition of the IMEX business. It will be exciting to see where things go from here, and we wish Atech and our clients the best of success for the future.”
Temple Bright was launched in Bristol in 2010 using a tech-enabled, streamlined business model.
It opened its second office in London EC2 in 2013 and now has more than 70 partners, evenly spread across the two locations. The firm advises clients ranging from start-ups to PLCs across a range of sectors, with significant expertise in technology.
