“It’s important for channel partners to recognize this is a simply a change of equity ownership," said Bay, executive VP and chief executive, Ingram Micro U.S. and Miami Export, in a statement sent to ChannelE2E. "Our strategy, our people, our facilities, our systems and our success-drivers are not changing. The only thing changing is our ability to be even more flexible and nimble to meet our partners’ business objectives. As a US-headquartered company we must and will continue to adhere to the same compliance standards and security practices as we do today. Successful business relationships have made us who we are today and will continue to define us now and in the future."
The compliance point is an important one. Ingram has a longstanding relationship as a supplier to the U.S. government and other governments. Under Chinese ownership, Ingram does not expect that to change -- a key point for thousands of VARs and MSPs that depend on Ingram's GSA (General Services Administration) schedule contract.
Bay didn't stop there. He also pointed to potential upside for Ingram, which is expected to become a subsidiary of HNA Group. "The HNA Group has a long-standing history of empowering their subsidiaries and management teams to keep it “business as usual” and find new ways to add greater value. That’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
Ingram Micro announced the surprise $6 billion buyout last week. Ingram expects the deal to close in the second half of 2016. Ingram Micro’s executive management team will remain in place, with Alain Monié continuing to lead as CEO. All Ingram Micro lines of business and all regional and country operations are expected to continue unaffected, according to an official statement from both companies.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and shareholder, the companies said. At $6 billion or $38.90 per share, the deal represents a 39 percent premium over Ingram Micro’s average stock price for the 30-day trading period ending Feb. 16, 2016. The company’s mark capitalization was $4.62 billion ahead of today’s deal, according to Yahoo Finance.
