History 2003: Tech Data Expands in France

Tech Data France, a subsidiary of the $17 billion wholesaler Tech Data, has acquired Almatec-Gigatrend, itself a subsidiary of Datasave in distributor sales for an undisclosed price.

The entire Almatec-Gigatrend team has been absorbed into Tech Data France to form a new storage business unit.

Datasave acquired Gigatrend from Adic in 1995, when the firm was involved in DAT tape drives, subsequently purchasing Almatec in 1999, before merging the 2 entities entrusted with indirect sales, i.e. distribution, of storage products.

David Benizri, Datasave’s CEO, who believes his company was among the 5 largest independent storage distributors in France, explains the move: “We needed more cash for the growth of AImatecGigatrend.”

No doubt another factor was the volatility of the distribution sector, which could have posed considerable financial risks for the group. Tech Data France had already ventured into storage, but without great success, and thus now can boast a solid team of a dozen qualified and highly specialized people, headed by Jean-Pierre Gauzi.

The group achieved sales of €9 million in 2002.

Datasave, meanwhile, will pursue direct sales of storage solutions to users, in particular products from StorageTek, Overland and EMC, a business activity that accounted for €7 million in 2002, nearly half that in services.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 183 on April 2003 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.