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PHOENIX — Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of itX Group Limited (itX), a leading Australian value-added distributor of IT software, hardware and services, in an all cash merger valued at AU$77.5 million (USD$79.1 million). itX distributes products and services from the world's leading IT suppliers including Oracle, IBM, HP, VMware, Apple, Citrix, Red Hat, and Trend Micro. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and supports Avnet's return on capital goals for acquisitions.
“The addition of itX to our current business will significantly enhance our competitive position in Australia by expanding the portfolio of solutions we can offer,” stated KP Tang, president, Avnet Technology Solutions Asia Pacific. “Their strength in services and software complements Avnet's expertise in the data centre and will create opportunities for cross selling into the combined customer base.”
With approximately 150 employees, itX has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide. For fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, itX generated revenue of approximately AU$159.6million (USD$162.8 million).
{complink 577|Avnet Inc.}
Very good article Bolaji… I agree that the merger makes sense, but you brought up a few points I really hadn't thought of.
Of course, I do believe that the deal would make even more sense if Qualcomm was able to negotiate a slightly more favorable deal. That being said, I don't think the terms are too far off the mark.
I must admit that I hadn't given too much thought to the acquisition-related integration challenges that Qualcomm will likely face. This, I believe, is absolutely critical to the long-term success of the deal. Let's hope the marriage gets off on the right foot.
On paper, this makes perfect sense. With Atheros sales projected to explode, I would agree that Qualcomm has to pay a premium for the company.
In reality, the merging of two companies, can be very challenging. The only positive here is that Qualcomm is so much larger that they may be able to absorb Atheros without too much trouble. Hopefully the Atheros employees will benefit long term from this merger – in addition to the short term stock incentives.
As we discussed in our Intel v. ARM post(s) not long ago, Intel has been aggressively moving into the mobile device space. Qualcomm in now positioning itself to move into Intel’s world. Qualcomm may become a thorn in Intel’s side sooner rather than later.
Qualcomm is also positioned now with the Atheros purchase to take on Broadcom, accoding to iSuppli. In fact, the lines of differentiation between semiconductor companies supply products to computer manufacturers, mobile phone OEMs and tablet device OEMs are blurring rapidly. At the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show, Microsofit demonstrated a Windows Operating System that works on ARM-based processor. It didn't say whether this would compete with the Intel x86 processor but I am now beginning to think the microprocessor market is going to be intensely competitive over the next few years with more companies diving in. The same is happening in the tablet and smartphone market.
Bola Ji, As you comment out the gaps are definitely getting blurred with recent blown out tablet market. The smart phones and the tablets almost require the similar hardware excluding the mobile connectivity. Quallcom and Atheros will together means definitely a very big market share and it does affect the Intel if Quallcom can come out with smartphone or tablet solution with high integration using the Quallcom application processors and their own wireless interface components.
I couldn't include this in last post. But I feel the ground of processors is actually looking good with more players being added. AMD is trying hard to get into the matket with thier fusion and Brazo platforms while ARM is going in a big way to release the processor for computer applications. If windows supports ARM in their desktop processors and Server processor versions we will see rise of third big contributer to the processor supplier in addition to AMD and Intel. All these vendors will be launching new platform with integrated GPU's and then all it matters is performance and cost.
In many ways it is good for businesses and consumers that the market for microprocessors could be expanding to include more suppliers. Intel has earned its bragging rights in the PC microprocessor industry but we won't really know ever how much better the segment would have developed had there been other strong players in the market.
If ARM-based microprocessors penetrate the PC market that would be a good thing. Same thing in the smartphone, tablet device and integrated device markets. By entering the market, Intel promises to make it even more competitive and diverse, developments that will be good for equipment buyers.