Vigil Software sells majority stake to "soul mate"

Security VAD to operate as UK arm of pan-European player Infinigate

Infinigate has set itself the goal of becoming Europe's largest specialist security VAD after grabbing a majority stake in UK distributor Vigil Software.

Privately owned Infinigate, which already operates across the Dach region and Scandinavia, acquired a 57 per cent stake in the Trustwave, SecurEnvoy and Wave Safend distributor for an undisclosed sum yesterday.

Having spent the past three years running the rule over various UK targets, Infinigate chief executive David Martinez said he had finally found a "soul mate" in 30-strong Vigil.

Vigil silent shareholders Patrick Cooper and Stephen Tye have sold up as part of the transaction, while directors Alex Teh and Murray Pearce retain a 43 per cent slice of the London-based firm. They have agreed to stay on for a minimum of three years and have the option of exchanging their shareholding for a stake in the Switzerland-based group.

"In our industry, size matters," Martinez told ChannelWeb.

"For three years, we have been analysing UK companies and I was not happy with the results. When I found Vigil, it was the same company [as us] with a different name."

Teh (pictured) added: "We were looking to find a partnership with an organisation that can help us grow faster and we believe we have found that with Infinigate. This is a merger of like-minded companies.

"We believe this will help us become the number one IT security distributor in the UK and EMEA."

Infinigate claims to be the number one or two specialist security VAD in all its markets but Martinez conceded that other outfits - including Italy-based ITWay - are larger overall. The deal, which was bankrolled from Infingate's own cash reserves, will boost sales from about €140m (£112m) to more than €155m.

"In the past six years, we have grown at an average of 25 per cent, and Vigil at 33 per cent," he said. "If we can continue this growth rate [and buy] into one or two other countries, we will definitely be number one."

Martinez excluded the market's 800-pound gorilla, Computerlinks, from the equation because of its interests in adjacent markets such as virtualisation and networking. "One hundred per cent of our revenue is from security," he said.

Vigil will retain its brand, running as an "Infinigate company". Like Infinigate's other subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the firm will operate autonomously as a separate legal entity.

Martinez promised there "will be no change to Vigil or its ideas", but stressed the firm would benefit from increased scale in the eyes of vendors and access to Infinigate's back-office systems.

Infinigate works with vendors including Dell-SonicWall, Sophos and Trend Micro. Martinez said the firm's adherence to the VAD model means it will take on no more than two or three vendors in each major product category.

Ian Kilpatrick, chairman of rival security VAD Wick Hill, said: "We welcome Infinigate to the UK market. We are very familiar with them, having competed against them in Germany for many years."

Andy Kemshall, co-founder of two-factor authentication vendor SecurEnvoy, which works with both Vigil and Infinigate, also welcomed the union.

"They both share the same desire to take niche, next-generation products forward," he said.