Datatec clinches £25 million RBR buyout

Datatec has finally acquired Cisco-only distributor RBR for more than £25 million following a five-month long marathon of intensive negotiations.

As first revealed in PC Dealer (6 May), RBR and Datatec had been in talks since April. At the time, Jens Montanana, chairman of Datatec, said he had considered merger, but denied he would buy RBR.

The deal, which was signed on 17 September, could mean RBR is sold for £31 million if a performance-based target is met over the year ending July 1999, during which RBR's directors will sustain an earn-out.

However, a source revealed that during the discussions over the sale of the company to Datatec, negotiations had hit various hurdles, including delays over gaining approval for the acquisition by the South African Stock Exchange, which stopped the purchase from progressing until recently.

Talking exclusively to PC Dealer, Rory Sweet, joint managing director at RBR, said: 'We had been approached by other companies which wanted to merge with us, but we wished to remain a Cisco-only distributor.

He added: 'We had lengthy discussions about the model of the company with Datatec. RBR will remain in the same building, separate and under our management control during the earn-out'.

However, in a statement issued by Datatec, it stated that following the acquisition of US-based Westcon, both RBR and its existing Bay and 3Com distributor Unity will be merged under the Westcon brand.

Richard Bradley, channel sales director at Cisco, claimed the acquisition meant business as usual.