Ikon invests Euro budget in Redbox

Computacenter buyout falls through but US integrator still buys into Europe

US integrator Ikon has marched into Europe with its purchase of UK-based Redbox, after the last-minute collapse of plans to acquire Computacenter.

The $4 billion systems integrator and Var took its planned acquisition of Computacenter to the due diligence stage, but has opted to build a European company from smaller parts. The first buy was Redbox, a privately held company in Manchester, with a turnover of just under #5 million. Ikon refused to say how much it had paid.

Advisors have told Ikon it should move quickly with further buys and the company will weigh up 16 more European acquisition targets before the end of June. Mike Anderer, vice president of systems solutions at Ikon, admitted that Computacenter was originally an Ikon target.

?We looked at Computacenter and others with big presence, but due diligence showed it was not so attractive to us. Of the top 10 [UK resellers] some need turnaround, some are already public in the US and for some we would need to find new management, so we have made a small start [with Redbox].? It was not known if Computacenter?s shareholders were willing to sell.

Of the 16 targets Anderer will examine, he expects ?to buy several of them within 90 days?. He said Ikon will probably spend between $50 million and $100 million on each.

?The management and their contacts are the most important part of this. These guys have given us a taste for a larger acquisition and it's important to get the first one done because we need local presence,? said Anderer.

He said Redbox has a similar management style and company culture to Ikon, along with a track record of introducing companies to Europe after it built a channel for networking company Firefox a few years ago.