'We want a US operation like our European one' - Mike Norris on potential acquisition of Pivot

Deal would follow up the 2018 acquisition of FusionStorm

Computacenter's potential acquisition of Pivot Technology Services goes someway to bringing the firm's US business closer to its European operation, CEO Mike Norris has told CRN.

The reseller announced this morning that it has made an offer for the Canadian firm, which has been approved by the board but still requires shareholder approval.

The deal will roughly double the size of Computacenter's US operation if it goes through.

"Our strategy is to create a business in the US which is as close to Computacenter in Europe as we can make it," Norris told CRN.

"This helps us on this journey - it doesn't do everything but it helps us, just like [the acquisition of] FusionStorm two years ago did."

The deal would bring with it Pivot's $80m-revenue services business, adding to Computacenter's current services base of around £7.7m in the US.

Norris said this would bring the services mix closer to that of the European operation.

"Computacenter has the largest self-delivered services revenue of any reseller in the world," he said.

"We have a very high service mix in our European business, but very little services currently in the US.

"The business that we're potentially buying has a materially bigger services mix than Computacenter US, but not as big as Computacenter as a whole."

The chief exec said that the coronavirus pandemic has not had an impact on Computacenter's M&A strategy - but said the deal could have been completed three months earlier if I wasn't for the disruption.

"We decided to wait and see how the world would be affected," he said.

He added that Computacenter targeted Pivot specifically and did not have discussions with other firms.

Integrating Pivot, should the deal go ahead, will be more complex than with the acquisition of FusionStorm because it will involve bringing together two US businesses, Norris said.

"When we had FusionStorm we didn't have an integration," he said. "We had a brand change so it was much easier.

"Clearly if we're bringing together two companies in the US that are of similar scale and size there is overlap which creates cost-saving opportunities, but that also creates tensions and politics with people.

"This, at the end of the day, is a people business and we have to manage that very carefully, and not in a gung-ho fashion."