BeIP, which has about 20 employees, supports IT partners -- particularly telecom operators -- across France and Africa. The company also has IP telephony and unified communications expertise. BeIP's turnover for 2016 was about 20 million euro (or about US$21.14 million), a 30 percent increase compared to 2015.
ALSO Holding, based in Switzerland, focuses on ICT (information and communications technology) along with logistics, financial services and more for its partner base. ALSO's portfolio spans more than 160,000 products from roughly 350 vendors. The Group has around 3,880 employees throughout Europe. In fiscal year 2015 (closing on December 31), ALSO generated net sales of roughly 7.8 billion euros -- or roughly US$8.25 billion. ALSO's 2016 results have yet to be announced.
The ALSO-BeIP deal will allow ALSO to push deeper into France while expanding into new vertical markets, according to ALSO CEO Gustavo Möller-Hergt. BeIP CEO Erwan Le Guen will remain a minority shareholder and will continue to work for the company.
ALSO Holding acquires BeIP, a specialty distributor focused on unified communications, IT network and security solutions.
Distributor Mergers, Acquisitions
Enterprise, midsize and small distributors have announced or completed multiple M&A deals in recent months. Ingram Micro finalized its $6 billion sale to Chinese logistics conglomerate in December 2016. And Tech Data is working to finalize the Avnet Technology Solutions buyout early this year.
Distributor M&A has also focused heavily on the telecom market, where ScanSource acquired Intelisys in August 2016.
Complete M&A Coverage: Track all VAR, MSP and CSP mergers and acquisitions by visiting the ChannelE2E Milestones section daily.
