Westcon Group has closed its acquisition of Crane Telecommunications just days after mutual supplier Mitel announced drastic plans to cull all of its UK distributors.

Westcon’s parent, South Africa-based IT group Datatec, this week raised £17.5m on the stock market to satisfy the cash consideration payable for the acquisition of Crane.

The two distributors both work with Avaya, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent and Mitel. Westcon will also gain new relationships with Samsung and BT Network Services through the deal.

This week, however, both Westcon and Crane will have received notification of termination letters from Mitel, which will soon begin supplying all of its UK resellers directly. Nimans, Rocom and Nessco also face the chop.

Barry Shakespeare, executive vice president of Westcon Europe, said: “When evaluating a company for a potential acquisition, two of the key considerations are the company's management philosophy and their customer orientation.

“Crane has developed an incredibly loyal customer base built squarely on relationships. This approach is very much like our own in both the solutions approach and technology focus.”

The Crane deal comes hot on the heels of Westcon’s acquisition of pan-European security distributor Noxs, which closed last month (CRN, 30 April).

Further reading:

Noxs switches to mainstream

Westcon allays fears over job cuts after Crane acquisition