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Avnet has bought out fellow distributor Bell Micro for $252 million, subject to the approval of regulators and Bell’s shareholders.
The deal has already been given the go ahead by the boards of both firms and is expected to close in two to four months.
Including Bell’s $342 million net debt, the all-cash merger has an overall value of $594m.
Avnet chairman and CEO Roy Vallee said: "We are very excited about the opportunity to build additional scale and scope in storage and computing solutions as well as increase our presence in the fast-growing Latin America market.
“The combination of Bell’s strong customer/supplier relationships and talented employees, coupled with our value based management culture and discipline, should allow us to achieve our stated return on capital goals on this transaction following the completion of the integration."
Don Bell, founder and CEO of Bell Micro, added: "This transaction delivers excellent value to our shareholders while providing an enhanced platform from which our employees can continue Bell’s heritage of helping suppliers reach our served markets with increasingly complex solutions. Given the rising demands of global technology markets, the investment required to deliver leading edge technical support and competitive supply chain networks continues to grow. Avnet’s financial resources and global infrastructure will allow the Bell organization to deliver industry-leading value to our customers and continue our long history of growth and market share gains."
