Gen-i has today signed a sale and purchase agreement to transfer ownership of its training business Auldhouse to Auldhouse executives Melanie Hobcraft, Leigh Richardson and Craig Jones, through a management buyout.

Now New Zealand’s largest privately owned commercial training business, the company is the premier training partner for many of the country's major government and corporate organisations.

As a result of new ownership, the company will be the largest privately owned commercial training business in New Zealand, while Telecom and Gen-i will continue to leverage Auldhouse services through a Preferred Supplier Agreement.

“Auldhouse is a great specialist business, developed from the ground up by some very talented people," says Tim Miles, CEO, Gen-i.

"It makes good sense for them to now own Auldhouse, as they have built it up so successfully.

"While ownership will change, we will continue to utilise their specialist training expertise for the benefit of our staff and clients.”

Melanie Hobcraft, Managing Director of the newly formed Auldhouse Computer Training says she is delighted to have this opportunity to take the business forward under private ownership.

“We’re thrilled that Auldhouse will continue to work in partnership with Telecom and Gen-i, and look forward to continuing to provide high quality IT training and consultancy services to a wide range of New Zealand private and public sector organisations," she says.

"We will also continue to work in close collaboration with leading global vendors including Microsoft, VMware, Citrix, Cisco, Red Hat, Pink Elephant ITIL, Symantec, Check Point and SAP. This is going to be a very exciting next chapter for the Auldhouse team.”

Auldhouse was founded in 1987 to deliver specialist IT training services to Gen-i clients and Telecom and Gen-i staff, with the business growing across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch offices.