The world's two biggest electronics and computer component distributors are ganging up to buy the number three.

Schroder Ventures is joining in the fun too, teaming up with Arrow Electronics and Avnet to buy German distie Veba Electronics Group from holding company E.ON for $2.35 billion (E2.6 billion) in cash, including debt. VEG reported 1999 sales of $5.4 billion.

Schroder Ventures Funds will buy Memec,a global computer products distie with annual sales of E1.7 billion. Arrow is taking Veba's US operations - Wyle Components, Wyle Systems and Atlas Services North America, all based in Irvine, California, for $840 million (including debt). Combined 1999 sales in North America were $2 billion

Avnet is stumping up $740 million, including the assumption of debt, for its slice of the carve-up.

It gets the Munich, Germany-headquartered EBV Group, comprised of EBV Elektronik and WBC, both pan-European semiconductor distributors, and Munich-based Atlas Services Europe, logistics provider for the EBV Group; and Nettetal, Germany-based RKE, a computer products and services distributor. The combined companies with 1900 employees, reported 1999 sales of $1.8 billion, according to Avnet. ®