RM, a publicly-traded supplier of educational products and services to schools, colleges, universities and local and central government, has acquired Orchard Partners, a specialist education software provider, in a deal worth up to £2.8 million.

RM will pay an initial £1 million in cash and £1.3 million in loan notes. A deferred payment of up £500,000 is payable in cash over the next two years depending on Orchard’s performance.

Orchard, which trades as EasyTrace, has a product range covering identity production, cashless catering, building access control, electronic registration, print & copy control and electronic lockers, which are typically specified for Building Schools for the Future (BSF) schools and academies – the UK’s largest school buildings investment programme.

The business is currently involved in 16 BSF projects, working with RM and other ICT suppliers. In the year to March 2005, EasyTrace turned over £1.6 million.

Tim Baker, Orchard Partners MD, said: “In the last two years, EasyTrace has grown rapidly in response to increasing demand from our educational clients. In order to continue our growth, and to take the business to its next stage of development, we needed access to additional financial and managerial strength.”

Following the acquisition, EasyTrace will be managed alongside Sentinel Products, a supplier of specialist education network management software, which was acquired by RM in 2004.

Orchard’s current senior management team will stay on to oversee the running of the business.