Logicalis and Claranet look to Brazil for investment targets

UK-based channel firms have turned their gaze to Brazil for their latest investment and acquisition targets.

Logicalis has acquired a 30% stake in cloud and data managed services specialist Kumulus to give it more depth in that area.

Kumulus is a Brazil-based outfit founded three years ago by some former Microsoft engineers and has developed a reputation for helping customers migrate to the cloud and then for maintaining that hosted environment.

Although the MSP has a strong background in Microsoft, the firm also has Amazon Web Services expertise and its list of offerings includes application modernisation, DevOps and data migration into the cloud from enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and legacy systems.

The relationship will give Logicalis a chance to provide more assistance for users looking to make cloud migrations.

“We are witnessing an acceleration in the roll-out of cloud-based solutions as clients adopt more agile infrastructure that allows them to scale up or down in line with demand,” said Robert Bailkoski, Logicalis Group CEO. “With the acquisition of this stake in Kumulus, Logicalis will enrich its cloud services capabilities, allowing our customers to gain maximum benefit while ensuring the efficient operation of their hybrid IT environment.”

Speaking to MicroScope earlier this year, Bailkoski said one of his ambitions for the business as CEO was to drive global growth.

“Logicalis is a global organisation, but we really need to leverage the strengths that a global business brings to the group,” he said back in May. “This time has demonstrated some of the benefits it brings to the group.”

Brazil was also the target for Claranet, which last week moved to pick up private cloud player CorpFlex, which provides security, data management and networking solutions.

Claranet has been in Brazil since 2017, focusing largely on public cloud, and in the last three years, the firm has won contracts from a few major institutions in the country.

“Now we are ready to expand and take advantage of such an important global market,” said António Miguel Ferreira, Claranet’s head of Iberia and Latin America. “CorpFlex is our first big investment in Brazil, expanding its potential in line with some of our biggest European country operations.

“We now have a team of over 200 in Brazil offering fantastic technical support and service management capabilities to our customers. Looking to the future, we are also actively reviewing additional opportunities to grow organically and by further acquisitions.”

Edivaldo Rocha, CEO of CorpFlex, said Claranet’s ownership would give it more muscle in Brazil and take advantage of the lessons its parent had already learnt through other acquisitions.

“Claranet and CorpFlex joining forces is the perfect way to enhance the value we bring to our customers in Brazil,” he said. “This strategy has already proven its worth in Europe. Now it is time for a pioneer like CorpFlex in Brazil to leverage its local knowledge with the experience and strength of a global company.”