Tech Data announces plans to invest $750m to accelerate digital transformation capabilities

Global technology distributors Tech Data today announced in a company press release that they will be investing a sum of approximately $750m to accelerate their digital transformation capabilities over the next five years.

The global technology distributors press release said the investment will drive the company’s ambition to deliver improved experiences and agility for their new and existing customers across different industries.

The announcement on the company website comes alongside the company press release that Apollo Global Management, Inc. have completed their acquisition of Tech Data which gives the global technology distributors an enterprise value of approximately $6bn.

Rich Hume, Chief Executive Officer of Tech Data explained what the investment plans and the acquisition by Apollo Global Management will mean for customers and the value they get from the service by saying: “Tech Data’s acquisition by the Apollo funds is a significant milestone, and their support of our multi-year commitment of resources underscores our collective focus on long-term value creation. We continue to execute on our strategy to transform our company into one that defines a new standard of operational and cultural excellence in our industry. We believe Apollo will be an invaluable partner in helping us better enable our channel partners to bring to market the technology products and solutions the world needs to connect, grow, and advance.”

Tech Data are global technology distributors who offer end-to-end solutions with their suite of products and services that are accompanied by their expertise in next-generation technologies that they say enables channel partners and clients to bring technology products and solutions to market.

The products Tech Data offer include systems such as desktops or tablets, smart devices for dogs, enterprise cloud licenses, and storage and memory devices just to name a few of their extensive range.

Their services include credit services, customer lifecycle management, mobile solutions, product lifecycle management, and training and certification.

The company offers a range of free information such as an extensive list of research on their more than 1,000 vendors, solutions for different topics including power and security, and webinars showing best practices.

The company claims to have a team of over 14,000 people and 125,000 customers across more than 100 countries in the world using their suite of products, services, and end-to-end solutions with the investment likely having an aim to increase this number.

It was only recently that the global technology distributors were ranked 90th on the Fortune 500^® list and have also been named as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for 11 consecutive years.

Matt Nord, Co-Lead Partner of Private Equity at Apollo gave reasoning for why they acquired Tech Data and what it means for future plans by saying: “Tech Data is a global market-leading company with an excellent management team and significant opportunities for expansion. As a result of this acquisition and the resources we can bring to bear, Rich and the Tech Data team will have the strategic and financial flexibility to invest in new technology, expand services and pursue transactions that we believe will drive long-term value creation.”

The announcement of the investment comes at a time where companies are doubling down on capabilities such as digital transformation and automation at an increased rate due to COVID-19.

Element recently raised $18m to enable data-driven business transformation and ING Direct recently appointed Expert System’s AI-based automation capabilities to improve their business processes.

The global technology distributors explained that the digital transformation initiatives are focused on delivering state-of-the-art automation, platforms, and analytics that will allow them to be more agile and responsive to the evolving needs of its channel partners.

The digital transformation initiative includes building a hyper-scalable digital business platform and a cloud-based digital marketplace that will be designed to support Tech Data’s increase in usage while serving emerging technology markets and consumption models.

Tech Data claims that it currently has 50,000 daily transactions and will likely looking to increase this number with their investment in the digital transformation initiative.

“Apollo sees Tech Data as a strong platform for meaningful growth and further diversification, and we are committed to supporting investments that build on this vision,” said Robert Kalsow-Ramos, Private Equity Partner at Apollo. “This investment over the next five years helps ensure the company has the resources necessary to launch a bold digital enablement and innovation program that will transform the way it serves channel partners and employees.”