EET to hold local stock after Chiltern takeover

EET Europarts says takeover of rival spare parts distributor will allow it to hold stock in the UK for the first time

Spare parts distributor EET Europarts says it can now stock up to 2,000 spare parts for same-day delivery in the UK following its acquisition of rival Chiltern IT.

The firm, which claims to be Europe's largest IT parts distributor, previously shipped to UK resellers and maintenance firms from its Danish warehouse on a next-day delivery basis.

The acquisition of Chiltern, EET Europart's third this year, was finalised on 14 March and hands it a UK warehouse for the first time.

EET Europarts' 12 UK staff are currently moving into Chiltern's headquarters in Gerrards Cross, its UK managing director Simon Smith confirmed.

"Before, we were shipping from Denmark and it was a bit restrictive in terms of being able to offer customers timed and same-day deliveries," he said.

"Having a local warehouse will enable us to enhance the service we offer. We will now hold in stock 1,500 to 2,000 SKUs for our customers in the UK that will be available on the same day."

Smith said EET Europarts had been looking to bolster its computer and printer spare parts capabilities for some time and that fellow HP spare parts distributor Chiltern represented a "good fit".

'There has always been a bit of flirting'

Chiltern IT owner Graham Nye (pictured) said the deal with EET Europarts concludes a sale process that began last summer.

An Information Memorandum was initially sent out by merger adviser Haines Watts Corporate Finance to 90 firms, Nye said, with interest received from as far afield as Australia and Singapore.

"We have been talking to EET for years - and there has always been a bit of flirting - so it didn't surprise me that they came in with a good bid, even if it wasn't necessarily the highest," he said.

"We decided to choose EET as we felt they were the best partner for the business. I always wanted to hand over the business to someone that wouldn't asset strip but actually build the business."

Nye said Chiltern's sale comes after it successfully emerged from a "sticky patch" in 2012 and 2013.

"I put Sunil Bouri in charge, who is a super-talented guy who had been with the company as an intern," Nye said. "As MD, he has done a transformation job in getting the company back into a healthy position and once I felt Chiltern was on the up again, I decided it was a good time to exit."

Nye stepped back from the business, which has 15 staff and bills itself as the UK's oldest IT parts distributor, a while ago but said his involvement in the industry will end with this deal.

"I'm not going to live on an island somewhere," he said. "I will be looking for new opportunities, probably not in the IT world but a challenging role with some social impact, either in the charity or third sector."

Smith said the addition of Chiltern would boost Denmark-based EET Europarts' standing in a UK spare parts market that also features the likes of broadline distributors such as Westcoast and specialists such as PSA Parts.

"We are the largest in Europe. In the UK, this certainly puts us up there," he said.

EET Europarts, which turned over €245m (£195.6m) in its last reported financial year, has already made two other acquisitions this year in the form of Swedish outfit Barex and Norwegian CashPOS Systems.