Cambridge-based Spectrum is a provider of fleet management services to corporate customers operating fleets of company cars, the largest of which has around 300 vehicles.

The acquisition is in line with plans announced by managing director Paul Talbot earlier this year to acquire a complementary business as ‘the next logical step’.

Paul Talbot said: ‘The acquisition of Spectrum will help us take the business to another level and spread our risk across an enlarged group. This is a company we have known for many years and it has been on the radar as an acquisition target for some time now.

‘As a business, its operations, culture and ethos fit very naturally with those of our own. Spectrum’s front line account management staff will be joining our own head office staff, based at Ampthill, while the Cambridge offices have been closed, with some inevitable restructuring.’

IFC has met with all of the Spectrum clients, who have welcomed the news of the takeover for the new resources, new products and services and investment in technological developments that it will bring.

IFC, which has around 15,000 drivers under management, was first launched by Paul Talbot in 2001 and provides outsourced fleet and associated services to the fleet industry.

One of its strengths is that all of IFC’s software development is written in-house, and Spectrum clients have been very impressed with the new technological developments they have seen.

‘They will now have access to online products and services they didn’t have access to before, including our online fleet management platforms, online vehicle selector and our mileage management systems,’ added Talbot.