Dutch distributor has 150 staff and includes a Fortinet, Brocade, Infoblox, Gemalto business portfolio
Exclusive Group has bought Netherlands HQ’d VAD, TechAccess. The acquisition grows the combined Benelux operation to over 150 staff at offices in Son and Amersfoort (the Netherlands), and Antwerp (Belgium).
The acquisition adds Fortinet distribution into the Netherlands, extending a relationship that spreads across all of EMEA & APAC. Other “shared synergies” include Arista, Infoblox, Gemalto and Brocade.
And it was the Fortinet connection that led Exclusive into the deal, says CEO Olivier Breittmayer (below). "We had know the company for a while because we both worked with Fortinet, and could see they had done a good job in the Netherlands in particular," he tells IT Europa. "We could see good potential in the Netherlands, which could go yet higher. We wanted to make it comparable to our other major markets." The combined Benelux business will drive sales of around €200m, of which €130m would be Dutch.
"We identified TechAccess as a strong candidate to boost our Benelux market presence and to provide the catalyst for further growth in the region. The people are highly aligned to our way of thinking, and it is these shared values that will act as a unifying force for our two businesses. The Exclusive project, to become a ‘VAST’ group on a global scale, but with local execution, continues at a pace and is strengthened with this announcement and the addition of Berry van Waayenburg and his team.”
The project continues, he says, with more expansion planned in EMEA and Asia/Pac, although good value-added distributors for acquisition are becoming few and far between. "There are still some smaller firms, but some are legacy businesses. Like legacy vendors, they find it hard to change."
Berry van Waayenburg, Co-Founder and CEO at TechAccess who now becomes Exclusive Networks Netherlands’ Country Manager reporting to Exclusive Group Benelux Regional Director, Kris Van den Bergh: “Our combined strength increases our relevance to vendors and partners, providing enlarged market access and greater resources to execute value-added services. These are exciting times for everyone associated with TechAccess and the existing Exclusive Networks, BigTec and Exclusive Capital businesses in Benelux.”