Zycko undergoes MBO

Three directors acquire majority stake in distributor from founder Rory Sweet

Pan-European networking and storage distributor Zycko has performed a management buyout (MBO) from founder Rory Sweet.

Group managing director Nick Moglia, sales and marketing director David Galton-Fenzi (pictured) and finance director Ken Wood have acquired Sweet's majority shareholding in the distributor. No external parties were involved.

Sweet founded Zycko in 1999 and the Cirencester-based Riverbed, HDS and Lifesize distributor has since grown into a £120m-turnover firm with 13 offices.

The serial entrepreneur, who previously founded and sold RBR Networks and MessageLabs, will remain on the board as a non-executive director and will retain a minority shareholding.

Talking to ChannelWeb, Moglia said that Sweet had barely been involved in Zycko for the last five years.

"His interest dwindled after the MessageLabs sale [in 2009] and it made sense for the majority shareholding to lie with the operational management," he said.

Moglia said reseller and vendor partners would see few differences but claimed the MBO would give Zycko more focus.

He also said the recent rash of distributor M&A activity could represent an opportunity for Zycko. "There are a number of options open to us. We woudn't rule out making an acquisition but historically we have grown organically and we plan to continue to support our vendors by opening more offices in Europe."