Tech Data buys certain assets of distributor DLI.

Distribuicao e Logistica para Informatica, with €124m in annual revenue,  serves the Portuguese corporate IT and consumer IT sectors.

Go DLi Acquisition

"I am very proud of the success of the EEC," says Alex Sozonoff, Chairman and President of the European Wholesale Group (EEC), as he annnounced the dissolution of this Europe-wide IT distribution group. 

 

Ten years ago it seemed like a radical idea: a distributor’s own brand. A house brand. Sure, in those days you had a few odd distributors like Trust that lived by building their brand, but in general the Brand (with a Capital “B”) was still territory occupied solely by Tier 1 vendors who could buy expertise from marketing gurus and big agencies.

Vendors built brands, distributors built channels and route-to-market for those brands, and retailers built traffic and sales. It was a far more, simple world (although we still managed to get confused in it).

Today everybody wants a brand, so much so that you think some laws should be passed requiring vendors to first pass a Brand 101 test. A major trend in high volume retail is to have your own brand, from WalMart to Dixons. Many channel players have launched their own brands, from distributors like ACI in Belgium with iDream to Taiwan companies trying to escape the OEM heat from China’s prolific competition. A few become winners and more will die as losers.

Ingram is a winner and perhaps one that has not been given full recognition yet. They started their brand quietly in the heyday of system builders, when SBs were starving for components. They launched V7 and for years gained experience. More importantly, Ingram Micro has gained a vision of the mega-potential a House Brand could have for a global distributor. They have seen the future and the future is House Brand.

Scribona, Scandinavia’s broadliner distributor with revenues of 873 million Euro, grows tired of cost-cutting, krona-pinching and closing offices ...and sells out to pan-European rival Tech Data.

Scribona had 14,456,937 reasons to sell out as that matches their latest losses in Euro on their 2007 Annual Report. (Based on today’s currency exchange.)

Tech Data, driving a good bargain, will pay only the net asset value for inventory, some intellectual property, material contracts, office equipment and ”certain other” assets, plus a premium for Scribona’s operational assets (from €13.5m to €16.5m, depending upon performance criteria). Note the word “plus” as many of the industry gossips think the premium is the total sale price.

 

Scribona recently had offices and operations in all Nordic countries (with more than 6000 resellers and systems integrators). To reverse losses, they downsized their Finnish organization, closed the Malmö regional office, and their Danish operations.

"Through this transaction, Tech Data will gain a talented team of highly experienced distribution employees that will help strengthen our operations and drive stronger relationships with our key vendor partners and customers," saysRobert M. Dutkowsky, CEO of Tech Data Corporation.

On one hand, Tech Data has just bought itself the leading position in Scandinavia.  On the other hand, the way things are going in Scandinavia distribution, you might lose that hand.

How Tech Data Tells It