One of the UK’s top entrepreneurs, who runs a computer reseller and management services company with revenue of 500m pound ($780m) a year, has become favorite to acquire JBA Holdings Plc, the struggling, UK-based ERP vendor.
Peter Rigby, chairman and CEO of privately-owned Specialist Computer Holdings Ltd (SCH) bought a 1.8% stake in JBA in February this year. Stock market speculation suggests that he is responsible for what JBA has described as an early indication of interest that may lead to an offer for the company.
Rigby certainly has the resources to buy JBA which, like is own company, is based in Birmingham. Earlier this month SCH bought UK systems integrator and services company Lantec, for an undisclosed sum from the US company Elcom International Inc (CI No 3,702).
With wafer-thin margins in the reselling business, Rigby may well see JBA as a way to build up a services arm to his business which has 2,000 employees. JBA would certainly benefit from his management expertise. It has suffered a run of set-backs which has seen it planning to consolidate in the SME sector at the very time when this market is under aggressive attack from the major ERP vendors.
