IFC Fleet Services has completed the strategic acquisition of Spectrum Car Scheme Management, increasing its managed fleet size by around 20%.

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

The acquisition, which will see key Spectrum staff and services operating out of IFC’s Ampthill head offices from now on, is in line with plans announced by managing director Paul Talbot.

IFC was launched by Talbot in 2001 and has around 15,000 drivers under management.

The group has grown to its current size through the acquisition of logistical support company, BBS Fleet Logistics, based near Bedford, in 2004, and the launch of mileage management provider, Vertivia, in 2008.

Today, it employs more than 60 people across the three distinct, group businesses.

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, it said, have welcomed the news of the takeover for the new resources, new products and services and investment in technological developments that it will bring.

Talbot said: “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.”