Wayside Technology Group, parent of Lifeboat Distribution, is acquiring Canadian technology distributor Interwork Technologies for an undisclosed sum.
This is M&A deal number 188 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020. The pace of technology services M&A slowed amid the coronavirus pandemic in late March and early April 2020, but overall deal activity has picked up in recent days. See the complete M&A deal list here.
Wayside will tuck Interwork into Lifeboat's Canadian arm. Interwork President Joe Graci will lead the combined Canadian business.
Wayside Acquires Interwork: Business Details
Headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey, 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.
Lifeboat Distribution, a Wayside business, is an international value-added distributor. The VAD promotes virtualization, cloud computing, security, application and network infrastructure, business continuity/disaster recovery, and other solutions to channel partners.
From its home base in Toronto, Interwork offers cybersecurity, information management, and network solutions in both Canada and the United States. The addition of Interwork brings scale to Wayside, the company said, adding more than 20 new vendor partners, a network of approximately 2,500 value-added resellers (VARs), and an increase in annual gross billings of around 10 percent, Wayside asserts.
Among the companies’ shared vendors is Acronis, which has come out in support of the deal.
Interwork Acquisition: Executive Perspectives
This deal, Wayside's first acquisition in over 25 years, signals CEO Dale Foster's commitment to inorganic growth.
“Interwork brings an exceptional team to Lifeboat with a very similar culture built on servicing clients with a differentiated, high-touch approach. We have identified multiple near-term cost and revenue synergies; and given our limited overlap in customers and technology partners, we expect to actively cross-sell products and services across both organizations. We look forward to expanding our presence in Canada through Interwork’s network of VARs, and we expect this acquisition to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA, which will allow us to continue to accelerate growth and profitability on the heels of our record 2019 performance.”
Interwork President Joe Graci added:
“Both Lifeboat and Interwork have carved out a unique and differentiated space in the market to help launch and develop emerging technology brands. Our team prides itself on delivering highly-responsive service levels and invests heavily in training and development to provide our partners with the expertise and support they need to grow their business. We look forward to integrating with the Lifeboat platform as we leverage one another’s deep relationships with technology partners and VARs across the U.S. and Canada.”
Distributor Mergers, Acquisitions, Investments and Buyouts
The Wayside-Interwork deal surfaces amid multiple shifts in the IT distribution sector.
For instance:
- Private equity firm Apollo Global Management recently acquired distribution giant Tech Data.
- Ingram Micro acquired Ictivity, an IT services provider in the Dutch market.
- Wesco International is acquiring Anixter International for $4.5 billion, beating out private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (CD&R) in a multi-week bidding war for the distributor.
- Synnex is striving to split into two companies, though that move may be delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
