Distribution heavy hitters reveal their M&A wishlist
CRN hears from four of the major channel distributors to find out what they’re on the hunt for in an M&A deal
Acquisitions continue to hit the channel hard and fast from all angles, whether it be from vendors, distributors and partners.
We've already quizzed the acquisitive VARs and MSPs on what it takes for a deal to go from the shopping basket to the checkout, now CRN turns to the distributors to find out what will make them splash the cash.
Here are four UK, European and global distribution players on their M&A wishlist.
Westcoast
Most recent acquisition: Spire Technology
Rationale: No vendor crossover
Alex Tatham, MD
"Our focus right now is growth. And therefore, we look for acquisitions that are going to allow us to grow the market, grow our own business, grow the opportunity, and we look to make sure that we can grow the number of vendors that we have and the customer base, it is all about growth."
Up next: TD SYNNEX...
Distribution heavy hitters reveal their M&A wishlist
CRN hears from four of the major channel distributors to find out what they’re on the hunt for in an M&A deal
TD SYNNEX
Most recent acquisition: Cokeva (through Shyft Global Services)
Rationale: To expand Shyft's depot repair service capabilities
David Watts, managing director TD SYNNEX UK&I
"We will grow organically this year. We're very market share oriented. This year we'll gain market share, I'm absolutely sure we will.
"I think some of that will come from a resurgence of our endpoint solutions business. The vast majority of that is PCs which had a very tough market last year.
"But we identified really early on in areas that we want to invest in because we knew our channel communities would need support, and they are all high growth areas in themselves.
"So cloud, IoT data analytics, security. AI will be in there but it will be a slow number. We've got big investments there, and they will afford us much higher growth.
"We're always looking globally, in Europe and locally. I'd be really surprised in the next few years if we don't have some significant acquisitions.
"If I look at the Tech Data Synnex merger, that was a classic one of quite different capabilities and vendor portfolios coming together, but also plugging regional gaps.
"After that, we'd be looking to invest in acquiring companies that do something that we would be quite slow to organically grow.
"If you look at some of the smaller acquisitions we've made over the last few years, it's been things like as-a-service, finance companies, data analytics, things that really give us solutions that we can pull into our larger business.
"But they're not about acquiring another very large distributor.
"Our history over the last 50 years t's full of acquisitions and organic growth. The answer is always both."
Hear from Exclusive Networks on the next page...
Distribution heavy hitters reveal their M&A wishlist
CRN hears from four of the major channel distributors to find out what they’re on the hunt for in an M&A deal
Exclusive Networks
Most recent acquisition: NEXTGEN Group
Rationale: Expand APAC presence
Paul Eccleston, SVP, EMEA
"M&A is a big part of what we will be doing this year and the coming years.
"Historically we've been very much driven by M&A. There have been a couple of years where it's been slower. Last year we made three acquisitions and we're going to continue with that process.
"We think of it globally, not just by theatre.
"When we acquired Consigas we acquired that business because it's the global leader in Palo Alto education and training services.
"NEXTGEN is a big business in Australia and New Zealand, which made it a great geographic fit for us.
"They've also got some very interesting channel services that they've developed which we're going to look to expand globally.
"What we'll be doing in the rest of April is looking at those services and how we can fit them into our build and expand them globally.
"So we look for a geographic and cultural fit. If there's not cultural fit it's just too hard.
"When we bought Ingecom last year which was in the Ignition business it was a great cultural fit.
"And it was also a great geographic expansion because Ignition weren't in the Mediterranean region.
"They've also got a very strong services capability. So if you think about those things it's geographic fit, cultural fit and services fit.
"And that will drive the capability of the organisation to increase the support and value to our clients."
Read on to find out what Climb Global Solutions CEO Dale Foster is looking for next...
Distribution heavy hitters reveal their M&A wishlist
CRN hears from four of the major channel distributors to find out what they’re on the hunt for in an M&A deal
Climb Global Solutions
Most recent acquisition: DataSolutions
Rationale: Growth in Western Europe
Dale Foster, CEO
"There are a lot of targets in Western Europe and beyond.
"We've more than dipped our toe in the water. We've hired some people in France so that we can get to know that market and maybe there's a target there.
"So we're gonna look through that area. Western Europe is still the focus, like I said, there's a lot distributors.
"If I take a look at our last two acquisitions, which were Spinnaker and DataSolutions, if we can find companies like those two that the DNA is the same it is so in line with our philosophy, our go-to-market, what we consider important to the customers.
"We do have a lot of targets and are talking to quite a few. But we'll be selective and seeing where this fits in. We have a strategic plan for acquisitions, whether it's a geographic reach, it's a team that we want to add to our team or whether it's vendors."