WSTORE’S ACQUISITION OF INMAC FRANCE

[Anonymous]

WStore Group announces the acquisition of Inmac France
WStore, the leading online supplier of business IT equipment, announced today the acquisition of Inmac France. The announcement sees WStore Europe SA, the parent company of the WStore Group, become the owner of 100% of the capital stock of Inmac.
Founded in 1984, Inmac is one of the leading players within the French IT products and services market with over 40,000 active customers, from SMBs to the largest private and public organisations, and a turnover of €208 million in 2004.
Tony Price, Managing Director of WStore UK explained the acquisition is excellent news for WStore and gives tremendous potential for growth in the near future: “WStore has led the way for years when it comes to servicing the SMB sector, now with the addition of Inmac’s expertise in addressing large accounts; we see a great opportunity here for both companies.”
Not only do the two businesses have complementary target markets but their sales and marketing strategies are also an excellent fit.
WStore is one of the leading e-commerce players, having expanded its portfolio of more than 12,000 customers on the web, thanks to solutions developed by I-COM Software, a subsidiary of the group, allowing WStore, among other things, to work without any physical inventory.
Inmac has successfully built its customer base thanks to the widespread circulation of its paper catalogues (some 4.5 million distributed each year in France). It too has extremely efficient internal logistics and systems.
“The combination of our skills will allow our two companies to grow together,” says Guy Sakelario, CEO of Inmac. “This can only be beneficial to our customers, who will get access to a unique market proposition, covering all their requirements, from SMB to private or public large accounts.”
Patrice Laureau, CEO of WStore Group, said: “Regarding our vendor partners, this announcement is good news for them too; we now cover 100% of the French market, both in terms of size and in terms of purchasing behaviour. This constitutes an absolutely unique advantage in the market.”
The objective of the acquisition is clear, Laureau adds: “To become the number one choice for IT purchasing among businesses in France.”
The Inmac deal comes with the full support of all the historical financial partners of WStore: Newventuretec, Ventech (Natexis), Part’Com (Iris Capital) and the FCJE (group Caisse des Dépôts) have all agreed to participate in the funding of this acquisition. The Gores Group, LLC, the previous owner of Inmac, also remains a shareholder of the new entity, convinced by the potential of this exciting industrial project.
About WStore
Created in February 1998, The WStore group (www.wstore.com) generated in 2004 a consolidated turnover of 73 M€. It is currently constituted of 3 operational entities, gathering some 150 employees. WStore France (www.wstore.fr) and WStore UK (www.wstore.co.uk) are both on their market, the leaders of the IT distribution for SMB on the internet. I-COM Software (www.i-comsoftware.com) is a software editor company dedicated to IT distribution, having as customers the major players of the industry : HP, Xerox, Lexmark, NEC.
About Inmac
Created in 1984, Inmac (www.inmac.fr) generated in 2004 a turnover of 208 M€ among businesses of any size, being a major player on the French IT market. Inmac employs 330 skilled workers. 98% of the Top 1000 French companies are active customers of Inmac. Over 93% of its 11500 products are available for a next day delivery thanks to a logistic platform, certified ISO 9001 and 14001, also able to provide customized configuration and integration services. 

[Author]

January 6, 2006 at 10:04 AM