Logicalis buys into Asia-Pacific

Tomorrow, the world: in the last two years Logicalis has bought firms in South America, Europe and Asia

Integrator Logicalis Group has burst into the Asia-Pacific market with its $19.8m (£12.1m) acquisition of VAR Netstar Group, its third international buy-out in the last two years.

NetStar is comprised of three main business units, in Australia, Singapore and Taiwan, with satellite operations in Hong Kong, Malaysia and China. Its predominant vendor focus is Cisco, but it also partners with manufacturers including Check Point and RSA Security. The firm has more than 300 employees and 1,500 customers.

Logicalis' entry into the Asia-Pacific market follows its acquisition of German reseller Minters in May, a deal which doubled the size of its operations in the country. It also more than trebled its Latin American sales through its acquisition of Brazilian integrator Promon Tecnologia last year.

Logicalis now has offices in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Peru, alongside its German and US business and its UK headquarters. Chief executive Ian Cook claimed Logicalis was following customers and vendors' lead in branching into the Asia-Pacific region.

“This is a significant strategic development for us which immediately opens up new market opportunities in the faster growing economies in Asia-Pacific, a region that is important for both our customers and our strategic partners," he said.

“NetStar, with its tremendous customer base, has great capabilities and experience in the areas of network integration, datacentre and managed services, with strong annuity revenues. We expect to further build upon the Cisco-focused businesses and extend our offering to include datacentre solutions to mirror the other existing Logicalis markets."