VADition bosses loyal to new owner
Neil Ledger claims deal with Exclusive Networks is a partnership rather than just an acquisition
VADition's top management have pledged their commitment to growing new owner Exclusive Networks' UK business after agreeing a cash-and-share deal with the Paris-based distributor.
VADition's management team will take an undisclosed shareholding in the pan-European distributor as part of the deal, which will more than double Exclusive's UK revenues to £55-60m.
Neil Ledger said that he and VADition's other co-founder, Ian Morris, are committed to staying on and stressed that there was no end-date written into the contract. The pair will become joint UK chief executives.
"This is not just an acquisition, but a partnership," Ledger told CRN. "We signed up to take the UK business forwards. This gives us the opportunity to scale the business and we are now in a strong position to offer pan-European coverage to new technology vendors."
VADition has several vendor franchises in common with the wider group, including Fortinet and Palo Alto, and the purchase builds on Exclusive's 2009 acquisition of UK security distributor Arc Technology.
Olivier Breittmayer, chief executive of Exclusive Networks Group (pictured), said: "It was important for us to scale in the UK as it is the biggest market in Europe. VADition has the same business model we have in other countries and is very complementary to Arc."
Ledger and Morris have been given six months to analyse the UK operation, after which it is likely the VADition brand name will be canned and that there will be a re-organisation.
However, Breittmayer also stressed that Exclusive's 100 staff in Chesterfield and Hampshire will be kept on.
"The idea is not to go too far as it works well currently," said Breittmayer.
Chris Walsh, sales director of Exclusive Networks UK, said: "We now have a presence in the north and south. If there was any question of it before, this makes us the UK's number-one VAD."