Compel eyes Q2 acquisition
VAR outlines ambitious plans
Oracle VAR Compel has set its sights on the acquisition trail in 2007, according to chief executive Neville Davis.
Speaking exclusively to CRN, Davis said: “We will concentrate on our Oracle business again this year because it’s a good place to be and our position within the Oracle channel continues to strengthen. We are ambitious and have plans to grow organically and through acquisitions.
“Compel is a pro-active, acquisitive company and we are likely to make an acquisition in 2007. There is nothing on the cards at the moment, so I can’t see anything happening before the second or third quarter. We will acquire in the area where we operate now. The firm will be in the UK and it will either help us to boost market share or have a good customer base.”
However, Davis added that it can be tough finding the right company.
“We have high standards of quality and we won’t just buy for the sake of it,” he said. “However, I would be very surprised if we didn’t continue to acquire the way we have.”
Davis said consolidation would continue to be rife in the channel.
“The M&A [merger and acquisition] market is more active now than any time since the dot-com era,” he said. “There is a generic need to consolidate because companies need the scale and the geographical coverage.”
Greg Carlow, managing director of VAR Repton, said there were two types of Oracle VARs that Compel could approach.
“There are applications VARs and ISVs, and then there are database VARs,” he said. “There are lots of database firms that have a small number of customers. This means there are not many big- to medium-sized firms in this area. But the advantage of acquiring one of these would be that each of their customers are big contracts, so Compel could then upsell and cross-sell other equipment and services.”