Avnet Wednesday said it plans to acquire Magirus Group's European Enterprise Infrastructure Division, which will make it the largest enterprise solutions distributor in Europe.
The division, which generated about $500 million in revenue last year, will be incorporated into Avnet Technology Solutions European operations. It will sell servers, storage, software and services from IBM and Hewlett-Packard in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
"With this acquisition, Avnet Technology Solutions will be the largest value-added distributor for enterprise solutions in Europe," said Roy Vallee, CEO and chairman of Avnet, in a statement. "This strategic investment in our Technology Solutions business in EMEA [Europe Middle East and Africa] is consistent with our stated desire to expand our successful TS business model globally."
Avnet's European HP and IBM businesses will be significantly larger with the acquisition, said Dick Borsboom, president of ATS, EMEA, in a statement. In Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and Dubai, Avnet will add HP to its line card.
"There were already plans at Avnet to build the enterprise solutions and services business in Scandinavia, and this acquisition creates a good platform for us to start doing so in Denmark and Sweden," Borsboom said.
Avnet has made several acquisitions in the past year-and-a-half. At the beginning of this year it acquired Access Distribution. Avnet acquired Belgian auto-ID distributor Printex in March of last year and the assets of Zeta, a German wholesaler in June.
Earlier this year Avnet brought on long time distribution executive John Paget as the global president of its Avnet Technology Solutions division as the company looked to expand its international reach.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in October 2007, with integration slated to be complete by June 2008.
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