Credit: Tech Data
Inflow Technologies has withdrawn from closing its acquisition by Tech Data, breaking free from the agreement less than two months after striking a deal.
The acquisition - revealed by Channel Asia in December - was expected to close during the distributor’s first quarter of fiscal year 2021, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Following the withdrawal, Inflow has paid a break fee to Tech Data, as outlined in the original acquisition agreement.
“We respect Inflow’s decision to go in a different direction,” said Jaideep Malhotra, president of Asia Pacific at Tech Data. “Tech Data is committed to our strategy of delivering higher value by strengthening our end-to-end portfolio and optimising our global footprint, and we continue explore opportunities to grow our business in alignment with this strategy.”
Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Inflow goes to market as a value-added distributor with expertise in cyber security, networking, unified communications and collaboration, in addition to storage and server management, infrastructure and application software.
Speaking at the time of the acquisition announcement, Rich Hume - CEO of Tech Data - said the addition of Inflow “directly supports” the distributor’s strategy of delivering higher value services through the channel across the region.
The business had also hoped to "optimise its presence" in Asia Pacific while strengthening its end-to-end portfolio with a key focus on next-generation technologies such as security and networking.
Tech Data first entered Asia Pacific through the acquisition of the Technology Solutions business from Avnet in February 2017, with the US$2.6 billion deal rubber stamping the distributor’s move into the region.
Founded in 2005, Inflow Technologies was previously backed by Datatec - owner of Westcon Group - before buying back equity in August 2013.
With presence across India and South Asia, the business represents more than 40 vendors, including Cisco, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Palo Alto Networks, alongside Oracle, Juniper Networks, Kaspersky and Micro Focus among others.
Meanwhile in November 2019, Tech Data struck an amended acquisition deal worth US$6 billion with its private equity buyer Tiger Midco, after receiving a rival bid from another interested party.
