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Computacenter deepens North American position with BITS buy
Deal for Illinois-based VAR adds more coverage and depth to Computacenter’s position in the US
Computacenter has acquired once more, strengthening its position in North America as it looks for further growth on that side of the Atlantic.
The latest target is Business IT Source (BITS), which employs around 100 staff based in facilities in Illinois, with 2021 revenues of approximately $245m and EBIT in the region of $8.9m.
Computacenter has been building up its operations in North America, and picked up Pivot back in November 2020. The region has already been making a significant contribution, with fiscal year numbers for 2021 delivering 27.9% growth, increasing by 114.3% when the Pivot acquisition was included.
With $2.5bn, the North American business now accounts for the largest technology sourcing revenues of any segment in the group. Service revenues are also climbing, up by 27.5% organically, with the business landing its first managed service customers in the region.
The plan is to retain the existing BITS leadership team and run the business as a separate operation in the US. Over time, the team will be fully integrated into Computacenter’s North American business.
“Our US business continues to grow organically, but we will take additional opportunities to improve our positioning,” said Mike Norris, Computacenter Group CEO. “BITS gives us a much stronger presence in the midwest of the United States and brings some great people, customers and leadership to our business.”
He added that the technical facilities that came with BITS would be a boon for the wider business. “The Buffalo Grove Integration Center will allow us to serve more of our midwest regional customers locally over time, helping us to meet our sustainability goals,” he said. “I am confident that the BITS leadership will seize the opportunity to continue their current growth momentum.”
Feeling positive
In response, Bob Frauenheim, CEO and cofounder of BITS, said it was feeling positive about becoming part of Computacenter.
“This gives us the opportunity to provide a much broader range of capabilities to our customers and growth opportunities for our people,” he said. “Operating as a separate business unit will allow us to continue our personalised service while leveraging Computacenter’s capabilities to best serve customers and associates.”
BITS becomes the third acquisition in North America in the past four years, after Computacenter picked up Toronto-headquartered Pivot in late 2020 and acquired San Francisco-based FusionStorm back in 2018.
