Pinnacle picks up Axiz for US$22.4m

by Stuart Wilson, Tuesday 20 July 2010

Pinnacle picks up Axiz in South Africa

South African distribution outfit Pinnacle has confirmed a deal to snap up Axiz for US$22.4m. Axiz operates an IT infrastructure distributor headquartered in Gauteng. The company represents a number of major vendors including Acer, HP, Intel, Lenovo and Samsung. Pinnacle plans to gradually merge the facilities, operations and systems of Axiz with its software distribution arm Workgroup.

The two companies are expected to eventually use a combined infrastructure. Pinnacle reckons that combination of Workgroup and Axiz will ‘facilitate growth in distribution volume’ as new brands and brand segments are made available to an extended customer base, according to Pinnacle’s official announcement.

Pinnacle will make sure that Axiz’s main vendor partners are satisfied with the transaction - and will also look to get certain key employees to commit for the next 18 months - before officially closing the deal. The deal will also require approval from the South African Competition Commission.