Avnet has acquired Bell Microproducts in an all cash merger of $252 million. It paid $7 per share for Bell and is also assuming its debt of $379m as of March 31.
According to Avnet, this move will increase its earnings, with Bell offering a portfolio of storage, computing, software and networking products from industry-leading suppliers.
In calendar year 2009, Bell posted approximately $3bn in sales, with revenues from North America, EMEA and Latin America were 42%, 41% and 17%, respectively.
Roy Vallee, chairman and chief executive officer at Avnet, said: "The acquisition of Bell Micro marks an inflection point in Avnet’s history as the clear leader in value-added technology distribution. Bell Micro is the largest acquisition in Avnet’s history on a revenue basis, and substantially improves our global scale and scope competitiveness.
"It strengthens our position in the Americas and Europe, and expands our presence in the fast-growing Latin America market. We welcome the Bell Micro customers and suppliers, as well as the talented employees at Bell who support them.
"Our value-based management culture and discipline should allow us to achieve our stated return-on-capital goal of at least 12.5% on this transaction following the completion of the integration, which we expect to occur by the end of our fiscal year 12 months from now."
Further, the company said that Bell’s Latin America and EMEA businesses, as well as its North American data center business, will be integrated into Avnet Technology.
While, Bell’s North American embedded business, including embedded components like hard disk drives, will be integrated into Avnet Electronics.