Nuvias acquired by Infinigate to form €1.4bn-revenue powerhouse

Rigby Group sells Nuvias’ cybersecurity and networking business to Infinigate but keeps hold of UC arm

Nuvias has been acquired by Infinigate in a move which will form a pan-European player with €1.4bn in revenues.

Infinigate has acquired Nuvias Group's Cyber Security Solutions and Secure Networking business.

Nuvias' Unified Communications business, which is based on its 2016 acquisition of Siphon, is not included in the deal and will become a separate entity under existing owner Rigby Group.

Rigby Group founded Nuvias in 2015 following its acquisition of Wick Hill. It then went on to build a pan-European distributor though acquisitions of networking distributor Zycko later that year, followed by Siphon in 2016 and Belgian distie DCB in 2017.

Rigby Group will become a shareholder in Infinigate Group following the acquisition, along with Infinigate investor Bridgepoint.

Infinigate was founded in 1996. It took on investment from Bridgepoint in March 2021 and turned over €813m in its year ending 31 March 2022.

Including its UC business, Nuvias reported revenues of £560m in its FY22 ending 31 March, 36 per cent higher than the previous year, or 25 per cent higher excluding its UC business.

In FY21, the UK generated more than half of its total revenues at £220.7m.

The acquisition will significantly bolster Infinigate's presence in the UK, France, Benelux and Nordics territories as well as covering Southern Europe and entering the eastern European market.

Infinigate claims it will cover 21 countries following the acquisition.

The acquisition will create a distributor that serves SMB, enterprise and service provider customers, with Nuvias bringing vendor partnerships with the likes of Juniper Networks, Watchguard and Check Point as well as a large base of enterprise and service provider customers.

Infinigate said it aims to continue to grow its revenues by more than 20 per cent each year following the acquisition.

Speaking to CRN, Nuvias CEO Simon England said joining forces with Infinigate will enable the distributors to remain relevant for its customers and vendors.

"We've been on a quite an aggressive journey… We've been making acquisitions, we've been growing very strongly and really succeeding in what we're doing, but relevance plays a role," he said.

"In our business model we want to be your preferred partner, we want to be driving relevance and contributing to our partners' business. And I think it's fair to say that's a statement for both organisations and we built our business on doing that."

England added that the cultural and strategic fit between the distributors will open up new opportunities for its staff.

"In distribution, you're really not buying intellectual property. You're buying a customer experience, a vendor experience and a staff experience. There's a lot of cultural and strategic fit between these two companies - the heritage in mid-market and SMB, customer experience, wanting to be a value-add differentiator and a selected partner.

"It goes beyond buying vendor revenue… it's a business that stands and falls with the people."

Infinigate CEO Klaus Schlichtherle told CRN that the timing was right to create a "real pan-European player".

"Talks have been going on for a while, but they accelerated in the last couple of months," he said.

"We all think it's good timing right now. It's good timing to join forces and to create a real pan-European player focusing on security. There's such a complimentary setup in terms of country and vendor coverage, and it gives us the ability to operate in three main markets - Germany, the UK and France - on a completely different level than before because of Nuvias' strengths in the UK and the combined strengths in France where together we are considerably bigger - and obviously the DACH strengths of Infinigate.

"There's a real natural fit for those two companies. And that's why we said at one point in time, ‘hey, let's get serious now'," he said.