Global hosting firm PEER 1 Hosting has snapped up NetBenefit, a Brit-based hosting company, for £25m in cold hard cash.

NetBenefit, a division of internet service provider Group NBT, provides managed hosting services for UK and French businesses and had reported revenues of £7m last year.

"This deal strengthens our position as a full solution provider in the UK, which sees us now become a compliant PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 provider, with a data centre in London for customers demanding low-latency hosting," Dominic Monkhouse, EMEA MD, understatedly enthused in a canned statement. "NetBenefit's presence in France also allows us to extend our outstanding customer experience into Europe."

PEER 1 is going to be slipping NetBenefit's two data centres into its FastFiber Network and nabbing Group NBT as a customer in the deal, which it reckons will position it firmly in the UK's number two spot for small and medium business managed hosting services.

A spokesperson told The Register that no jobs would be lost as the two firms merged, adding that one of the things that attracted PEER 1 to NetBenefit was its talented staff.

He said that the deal was expected to close by the end of this month. ®