Alain Monié (Ingram Micro)
After months of speculation, private equity firm Platinum Equity has struck a deal to acquire global distributor Ingram Micro for US$7.2 billion from Chinese holding company HNA Technology.
Acquisition rumours came to light in August, following years of speculation that HNA Group was looking at offloading the global technology distributor. The sale is expected to be completed within the first half of 2021, subject to HNA Technology shareholder and customary approvals.
Platinum Equity partner Jacob Kotzubei revealed the firm had been pursuing Ingram for a while and had been impressed by the company’s ability to thrive while continuing to navigate these challenging times.
“We will work closely with the Ingram Micro leadership team to sustain that momentum and build on the company’s success,” he said.
Platinum Equity Chairman and CEO Tom Gores said Ingram will be a cornerstone investment in its portfolio.
“We have the resources and the experience to help the company pursue an aggressive agenda of growth and transformation,” Gore said.
Ingram has more than 35,000 employees and operations in 60 countries, serving more than 250,000 customers and partners with over 2,000 vendors. During fiscal year 2019, the business generated more than US$47 billion in revenue. Ingram CEO Alain Monié will continue to lead the distributor with headquarters remaining in Irvine, California.
Monié said teaming with Platinum provides an opportunity to further strengthen its competitive advantage in the cloud, speed its digital transformation and accelerate the expansion of its solutions and services portfolio, particularly for high value markets.
“Platinum’s sector expertise, global operating capabilities and financial resources make it the ideal partner,” Monié said. “We will also be able to broaden our geographic reach even faster, while penetrating new industries and verticals.
"We will maintain a strong balance sheet and will gain additional flexibility and resources to execute on our long-term strategic objectives. HNA has been a good partner for Ingram Micro, enabling us to continue to innovate and expand our global businesses. We look forward to the opportunity to accelerate this trajectory with Platinum.”
HNA Group North America president Wang Duan said the company was "pleased" to have reached an agreement that delivers a strong return on HNA’s investment while ensuring that Ingram Micro has a partner committed to investing in its future growth. HNA Group's Tianjin Tianhai bought Ingram in 2016 for $US6 billion.
“We wish Alain and his team well and are confident that Ingram Micro will continue to succeed in this exciting new phase of growth and development under Platinum’s ownership,” he said.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors to Platinum Equity.
Platinum Equity has built up a technology portfolio with its most recent investment in Vertiv, along with office supplies business Winc, and Pitney Bowes’ Document Messaging Technologies production mail business and supporting software in 2018.
