Avnet finds Czech mate

Distributor fires up European acquisition engine with Servodata purchase

Avnet has snapped up Servodata

Avnet has signalled that its lust for European acquisitions hasn’t been completely dampened with its purchase of certain assets of Czech HP distributor Servodata.

The US-based distributor, which went on a European acquisition run a couple of years ago, said the purchase would enable it to provide HP servers, storage, software and services to local resellers.

Avnet and arch-rival Arrow battled it out for European M&A supremacy between 2006 and when the recession hit in 2008.

Among Avnet’s conquests in that period were Horizon Technology Group, the HP and IBM arm of Magirus and components specialist Abacus.

Servodata will be integrated into Avnet Technology Solutions and Avnet said the purchase would build on its expansion strategy in central Europe.

Dick Borsboom, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, EMEA, said: “This acquisition further solidifies our leadership position as the premier value-added distributor in the Czech Republic while bringing a talented group of people helping to expand our HP practice in the Czech Republic.”

The acquisition is set to close in the second quarter.