Service Express Announces Acquisition of U.K.-Based Blue Chip

Transformative Deal Creates Global Leader in Third-Party Data Center Maintenance 

February 1, 2021

Grand Rapids, Michigan – Service Express, a leader in providing third-party, post-warranty data center maintenance services, today announced it has acquired Blue Chip, the U.K.’s leading third-party maintenance (TPM) and managed services company, to expand its global platform. The acquisition is the fifth for Service Express and its first internationally and follows several years of partnership and shared client service between the two companies.

Since 1993, Service Express has been a pioneer in delivering on-site hardware maintenance for mission critical servers, storage and networking equipment, and has grown rapidly with more than 50 offices across the United States and partnerships around the world. The company now serves more than 4,000 major enterprises, including global manufacturers and integrated health systems as well as retail, higher education, financial services, cloud services and government clients across North America and internationally.

“Our acquisition of Blue Chip in many ways formalizes the two companies’ existing multi-year partnership,” said Ron Alvesteffer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Service Express. “Our culture of growth, employee engagement, and differentiated customer experience aligns well with Blue Chip’s great reputation for building a talented and dedicated team that places customers at the heart of their service. The addition of Blue Chip enables our joint vision of growing a global portfolio to provide the best experience for our customers, partners and employees.”

Service Express is driven by its people-powered culture and its customer-first commitment and dedication to innovation through its predictive parts and service model, all of which has led to this next major step in the company’s growth story. The addition of Blue Chip is a transformative move for Service Express, bringing together two similar cultures and complementary expertise, while increasing the business by 40% and total staff to over 700 team members worldwide.

Founded in 1987, Blue Chip has continually adapted and expanded within the industry. While its service offerings and client portfolio have evolved over the years, the vision for the company has remained with one main focus – to deliver IT solutions that support the success of all customers. The combination with Service Express will accelerate opportunities for organic growth and additional acquisitions, with a new focus in EMEA countries to accompany its U.S. M&A strategy. The transaction will also enable Service Express to offer Blue Chip’s managed services expertise to its major enterprise customers both in the U.S. and abroad.

“We’re very pleased to be joining the Service Express team and helping to establish an even greater global leadership position,” said Andy Rounding, Finance Director at Blue Chip. “We are also proud to carry on Blue Chip founder Brian Meredith’s legacy of an unwavering passion for exceptional customer service delivered by the very best people. Hisimprint on our company will continue to be instrumental in our united path forward. We will continue to execute on our core principles, alongside Service Express, through our shared commitment to surrounding ourselves with talented people who provide exceptional customer experiences.”

Acquired in November 2019, Service Express is a portfolio company of Harvest Partners, LP (“Harvest”) a New York-based private equity firm.

Stephen Fessler, Principal at Harvest and a Board Director at Service Express, said, “This is an exciting new chapter for Service Express, as the company establishes its international beachhead. This combination is the natural extension of the close relationship the two companies have formed over the past two years, and we see this acquisition as a win-win for both companies and for their respective customers, who will benefit from expanded global capabilities and continued consistent, superior service.”

Alvesteffer will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company and will look to build around the current Blue Chip leadership team. Further operational and organizational details will be determined throughout the onboarding process. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed. Rothschild & Co served as financial advisor to Services Express, with Investec Bank and Agile Equity advising Blue Chip

About Service Express

The leader in providing third-party maintenance, Service Express specializes in onsite data center support for server, storage and network equipment to help IT teams control costs and optimize infrastructure strategy. Customers can manage, monitor and automate support with ExpressConnect®. Founded in 1993, Service Express maintains multivendor data center equipment for healthcare, manufacturing, education, finance, government, technology and other Fortune 500 companies worldwide.

In addition to post-warranty maintenance, Service Express offers hardware system and sales solutions, OS support, IT asset disposition and data center relocations. For more information, visit serviceexpress.com

About Blue Chip

Founded in 1987 and based in the U.K., Blue Chip is a leading provider of high quality mission critical IT infrastructure services, Now with multiple locations in the U.K., Europe and with a software development division based in Sri Lanka, Blue Chip is the largest maintainer of IBM mid–range systems outside of IBM itself and also a world class Managed Services solutions provider from its own U.K.-based Data Centres. Blue Chip’s founding principles of service excellence and value for money remain the cornerstone of its appeal today.   

For more information, you can visit their corporate website at www.bluechip.co.uk. 

About Harvest Partners 

Founded in 1981, Harvest is an established New York-based private equity investment firm that focuses on investments in middle-market companies in the business services & consumer, industrial services, healthcare, manufacturing & distribution and software sectors. This strategy leverages Harvest’s nearly 40 years of experience in financing organic and acquisition-oriented growth companies. For more information, please visit www.harvestpartners.com.