Actebis deal falls through
Distributor faces an uncertain future as alliance with Westcoast fails to materialise
The channel has been left reeling after an acquisition deal between privately held distributor Westcoast and pan-European distributor Actebis, one of the biggest of the year, fell through last week.
A statement from Actebis's German head office said: "The strategic alliance between the Actebis group and Westcoast has proved to be unrealisable and Joe Hemani has ceased his role as chairman. Actebis will remain a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Otto Group."
The statement added that a decision about a successor for the chief executive position "will be made in due course".
Hemani took the top spot at Actebis back in September with the intention of gaining full ownership of the distributor by the end of 2003.
Graeme Watt, former president of Tech Data's European operation, was due to take over from him as Actebis chief executive next quarter.
A representative of Westcoast confirmed the situation but declined to comment further.
Roger Mather, managing director of Actebis UK, said: "It was always an audacious move on Joe's part. Some vendors were concerned because the rationale for the acquisition was to make Hewlett-Packard a stronger part of the Actebis group. I think they have heaved a sigh of relief.
"The question is, what now? Actebis has some elements that are doing fantastically well, but it has suffered from the downturn in Germany. It needs to make some strong decisions and get the business back on an even keel."
Ian French, president of Bell Microproducts Europe, agreed that Actebis's future will be interesting. "Hemani is a very clever businessman and my gut feeling is that if the deal didn't happen it was for a good reason," he said.
"Actebis has been for sale for a long time. It is a very important distributor, but nobody seems to want to know it."