Synnex To Make Retail Push Via Acquisition

Distributor Synnex has agreed to buy substantially all the assets of New Age Electronics, a privately-held distributor of IT and consumer electronics, for about $54.25 million in cash.

"New Age Electronics is well-known and highly-regarded for its execution in the retail market for consumer electronics distribution," said Bob Huang, president and CEO of Synnex, in a statement. "This acquisition will greatly expand our consumer electronics offering. This acquisition also meets our stringent ROIC growth targets."

New Age had about $900 million in revenue in 2007, about 89 percent of it coming from Hewlett-Packard sales. Other key vendors include Panasonic, Sharp, Kodak and Samsung, according to Synnex.

Adam Carroll, one of the co-foudners of New Age, will remain with Synnex as a president of the New Age division, reporting to Peter Larocque, Synnex president of U.S. distribution.

Reporting to Carroll are Fred Towns, senior vice president of sales, and Gary Palenbaum, senior vice president of product marketing. The new reporting structure aligns the consumer electronics offerings of both organizations under a single leader, and leverages the combined expertise of both teams for future growth, according to Synnex. New Age has about 175 employees.

Lee Perlman, New Age principal and co-founder, will retire at the close of the transaction.

The purchase price includes approximately $22.75 million in deferred and earn out payments, which are subject to certain post-closing conditions. It is expected that the bulk of the deferred and earn out payments will be paid within the first 15 months after the close of the acquisition.

As part of the deal, Synnex will assume and refinance approximately $75 million in working capital debt. The purchase price and assumed debt will be financed by existing Synnex debt facilities. The deal is expected to close in April.

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