EU waves through Avnet-Magirus deal

European Commission rubber-stamps takeover of pan-European distributor

Avnet has moved one step closer to completing its acquisition of pan-European distributor Magirus after receiving clearance from the European Commission.

Avnet swooped on Germany-headquartered Magirus, one of Europe's last-remaining pan-regional distributors, in July.

The EC ruled that the proposed move would not give rise to competition concerns, given that Avnet would continue to face "competitive constraint from numerous competitors", including Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Arrow, as well as direct-selling vendors.

In a recent interview with ChannelWeb, Magirus founder Christian Magirus admitted the firm was in danger of being the "last European distributor running against the trend" of consolidation.

Since then, privately held rival SDG has also been snapped up, by Tech Data.

Founded in 1981, Magirus has 400 staff and revenue of $550m (£339m). It works with about 4,500 resellers across Europe.

The deal is expected to close in October.