Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2002/04/26/westcon_picks_up_landis_pieces/
Westcon picks up Landis pieces
Leaves debts behind
Posted in Channel, 26th April 2002 14:27 GMT
Westcon is to buy the networking distie assets of Landis, the stricken Dutch-owned firm, for the knockdown price of €7m.
It assumes responsibility for 500 employees, fixed assets and customer contracts, but no debt and no liabilities. We guess there's a separate conversation going on for the products in Landis' warehouses.
Westcon is the distie arm of Datatec, a networking reseller headquartered in South Africa. It signed a letter of intent to buy Landis' networking business in January, but the deal fell through. This time, we guess, it's got Landis much cheaper.
Landis is by any standards a big business - the distribution division turns over €450m a year. But it was in hock to the banks and faced a huge credit crunch from its suppliers. Without credit, an IT distie simply cannot operate. ®