Wayside Technology Group has acquired IT channel distributor Spinnakar for $11.8 million plus a potential earn-out. The initial payment values Spinnaker at roughly 5.9 times annual pretax income for the 12 months ended July 31, 2022.
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Wayside, founded in 1982, is based in Eatontown, New Jersey. The company has 174 employees listed on LinkedIn. Wayside’s areas of expertise include channel marketing, vendor relations, software and hardware.
Spinnakar, founded in 2019, is based in Berkshire, England. The company has 11 employees listed on LinkedIn. Spinnakar’s areas of expertise include security technology, storage technology, specialist distribution, marketing and business development, data center management, big data, software, cloud, networking, value-add distribution and emerging technologies.
Spinnakar’s business is focused on Europe, the Middle East and South Africa and has over 15 vendor partners including Cloudian, Deep Instinct, Rubrik, Virtuozzo and Vast Data. For the trailing twelve months ended July 31, 2022, Spinnakar reported a pre-tax income of $2.0 million (£1.5 million).
Founder and CEO of Spinnakar, Gerard Brophy, will continue to lead and scale Spinnakar’s EMEA business while integrating with Wayside's European business units, Climb UK and Grey Matter, the company said.
Wayside Acquires Spinnakar: Executive Insight
Dale Foster, CEO, Wayside, commented:
“Spinnakar’s founders have a proven pedigree of over 40 years in building successful IT distribution businesses and bringing emerging vendors to market, where they have experienced exceptional growth. Their European line card includes several vendors that we represent in the US, while also bringing several new key vendors such as Vast Data that provide significant cross-sell opportunities. Their deep knowledge and expertise in storage, cloud, security and data management match up seamlessly with our key verticals of focus. We expect this acquisition to be accretive to gross margin and net income, boosting both growth and profitability going forward.”
Gerard Brophy, founder and CEO, Spinnakar, said:
“We are thrilled to combine with the Climb and Grey Matter UK teams and look forward to scaling the integrated business across EMEA. Both organizations have very similar DNA with our focus on emerging technology products and services. As a new member of the team, I plan to further expand our line card through our combined expertise and shared vision of bringing new, innovative companies to market through our global network.”
Wayside's Background
Wayside is an international technology channel company that markets software, hardware and services – directly and through resellers – to software development and information technology professionals, according to its website.
Wayside acquired Canadian technology distributor Interwork Technologies for an undisclosed sum in April 2020. In November 2020, the company acquired CDF Group Ltd, a UK-based cloud, software and IT distributor, and services provider through its Climb division.
