Exclusive Group’s unique positioning and business strategy is centred on a ‘global-local’ value model that exceeds both the scale of local VAD specialists and the general approach of global broad line distributors. This has brought unprecedented success for more than a decade by targeting two core markets (cybersecurity and cloud) with very high growth profiles. The resulting strong organic growth and astute strategic acquisitions have seen a doubling of revenues every two years, culminating in total sales for 2017 of 1.75bn€ (up 38% from 1.27bn€ in 2016).
Michail Zekkos, Partner in the technology team at Permira said: “The escalating threat landscape and the increasing complexity of underlying infrastructures continues to position cybersecurity as one of the fastest growing and resilient segments of global IT spend. In a market that is characterised by structurally high product velocity, we believe that the role of value-added services and technologies, occupied by Exclusive at the centre of the demand generation channel, will become ever more critical in years ahead. We have been following the success of Exclusive for many years and look forward to support them as they consolidate their unique position in the market.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the next few months.
Advisors on the transaction included: Morgan Stanley, Natixis Partners, White & Case, PWC, Fidal KPMG and Goodwin Procter.