Avnet (NYSE:AVT) today officially completed its acquisition of Bell Micro in a deal worth approximately $631m.
The acquisition was approved by Bell Micro (NASDAQ:BELM) shareholders, representing more than 98 percent of the votes cast and has received all required regulatory approvals.
Roy Vallee, Avnet’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement: “Bell Micro is the largest acquisition in Avnet’s history on a revenue basis and substantially improves our global scale and scope competitiveness. It strengthens our position in the Americas and Europe and expands our presence in the fast growing Latin America market. We welcome the Bell Micro customers and suppliers as well as the talented employees at Bell who support them.
“Our value-based management culture and discipline should allow us to achieve our stated return-on-capital goal of at least 12.5 percent on this transaction following the completion of the integration which we expect to occur by the end of our fiscal year 12 months from now.”
Bell Micro had sales of approximately $3bn in calendar year 2009. With more than 1,900 employees, the company is active in 55 offices in the US, Canada, Europe and Latin America. The company’s portfolio includes storage, computing, software and networking products.
New appointment
Avnet has also named Graeme Watt as president of its Avnet Technology Solutions business in EMEA. Watt was previously president of Worldwide Distribution for Bell Micro.
Says Watt: “It is a great honour to be named to this leadership position at Avnet, and I plan to quickly engage with the employees, customers and suppliers of both organisations.
“Bell Micro’s product lines and technical expertise will increase Avnet’s value-added solutions for the datacentre and complement Avnet’s existing suppliers and service expertise, creating opportunities for cross selling. I am committed to helping this team, as well as our customers and suppliers, take advantage of all the new opportunities available to both organisations.”
Watt assumes the role previously held by Dick Borsboom, who will go now focus on Avnet Technology Solutions’ business in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa, amongst other initiatives.
