CDW 'thoughtful' about taking bigger bite of Kelway

Window of opportunity now open to gobble up more of the firm

CDW has said it is "thoughtful" about the prospect of buying more of Kelway as the window of opportunity to snap up more shares has opened.

The US reseller giant took a 35 per cent share in the UK VAR last autumn and from this month it has the chance – but not the obligation – to buy up more of the company. This window closes in two years' time.

At an investor conference, CDW's chief executive Tom Richards said the Kelway buy was a key part of its international expansion plans.

"[The acquisition] was driven by our US multinational customers who said increasingly to us 'look, I love you guys, but I don't want to love six of you around the world'," he said. "We've been very thoughtful about this and have studied the international marketplace for years. It's not a strategy where we plan to plant a flag in some part of the world and say 'bring us your IT'. It really is about following your customers."

He would not be drawn on if and when his firm would consider cutting itself a larger slice of Kelway.

"We're going to be thoughtful about it," he said. "So far they have performed great and it's been very helpful in serving our multinational customers."

Financial analysts at the conference were keen to find out what impact Kelway would have on CDW's top line.

Richards said: "At this point, I don't see it having a major change in the [growth] trajectory because they are growing – if you normalise it for some acquisitions they made – at a similar rate.

"Now it is going to open up a new market for us but we did it as much to protect our current business in the US. So we're not counting on Kelway to have this exponential change. But I will tell you this: clearly you don't do something like Kelway without thinking about it possibly being an international platform for us and that is where we are thinking. But we haven't thought it through yet. What does that look like actually beyond helping us with our US customers?"