Mike Norris opens up on bringing RDC back to the Computacenter fold

The deal was completed in three weeks, according to the CEO

The deal for Computacenter to buy back Arrow's IT asset disposition (ITAD) unit was struck and completed in the space of three weeks, Computacenter CEO Mike Norris told CRN.

Arrow announced last month that it would be closing its ITAD business in a number of geographies, including the UK. It bought Computacenter's RDC ITAD unit for £56m in 2015.

As part of that deal, the distie entered into a five-year operating agreement with Computacenter for IT disposal services.

At the time of Arrow's announcement, Norris told CRN that buying RDC back was an option, but "not likely".

The company announced on Monday that it had bought back the ITAD unit, although financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"The announcement of Arrow selling the assets was a surprise to us," Norris said.

"At no time at all did we have any discussions about the fact that they were closing it before the announcement was made.

"Nor at any time did we have discussions about buying it back before the announcement was made to shut it and I think that was about three weeks ago.

"Once we approached them to buy it after they announced they were shutting it down, they have acted fantastically and professionally."

ITAD specialist Restore Technology had told CRN last week that it had approached Arrow with an interest in buying its ITAD unit but had heard little from the distie in response. Norris said that he didn't believe there were discussions between Arrow and any other party with regards to selling.

The Computacenter boss added that this interest from other companies did not play a part in the quick turnaround of the deal, rather that it was of utmost importance to him to protect the corporate interests of Computacenter's customers.

"We looked into a number of different partners - we wanted continuity of service," he added.

"If somebody else bought the business, our contracts would transfer over with them.

"Equally, that's why we didn't want to buy the assets of the business and we wanted to buy the shares of the business because that makes it easier to move the contracts, [as they] move automatically."

Arrow's UK ITAD business and RDC are "to all intents and purposes" the same, according to Norris.

The ITAD unit will be known as RDC Computacenter and will operate in the same way it did when previously owned by the services giant.

Arrow CEO Michael Long said, when announcing the shutdown of the business, that its ITAD business was no longer "sustainable", but Norris said finances didn't play a part in the decision to buy it.

"We think we can improve its current performance material, but that's not the point [of the purchase]," he stated.

"In the UK, when you announce that you're shutting something, people leave. They go and get other jobs and things deteriorate very quickly.

"So we were keen to retain staff and the customers and the contracts and look after our corporate clients.

"Firstly, we wanted to move quickly to protect our corporate clients. Secondly, we wanted to move quickly to make sure that the employees stayed."