Belgian network and security VAD Kappa Data has acquired its French counterpart Exer for an undisclosed amount. Exer, based near Lille, is a leading company in value added distribution in France. Today the company has a turnover of 30 million euros, employs almost 30 people and has, among others, Extreme Networks, Stormshield and F-Secure as strong brands in its portfolio. Exer will continue to do business in its own name but will become a full member of the Kappa Data Group during the next coming years. Michel Grunspan, CEO of Exer, becomes a shareholder and member of the Kappa Data Group management board.
"Making our companies work together will create synergies from which our resellers as well as our vendors can benefit. We are really looking forward to making this a success story", says Chris Willems, Managing Partner Kappa Data: “As part of our business plan, it was our intention to make the Kappa Data Group more international. We have achieved strong growth figures in Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland in recent years. This acquisition gives us a strong position on the French market, which makes us more interesting as a distributor for our vendors and resellers. The group aims for a turnover of 100 million euros in the long term. With this acquisition we are already taking a big step in the right direction.”
Michel Grunspan, CEO of Exer, added: “in the conversations it was immediately clear that Kappa Data and Exer have the same DNA. Both companies have a strong VAD profile in which knowledge and services are extremely important. Making our companies work together will create synergies from which our resellers as well as our vendors can benefit. We are really looking forward to making this a success story.”
Patrick Casteels, Managing Partner Kappa Data, said: “our added value story becomes the strong link in our story. Exer has built a strong position in France for its vendors in a number of domains, allowing us to develop new services in the Benelux. The same also applies in the opposite direction. Together we can acquire a unique position in this rapidly changing cybersecurity market.”
“Also Investlink really supports this acquisition”, says Bert van Loco, Managing Partner at Investlink, “we supported Kappa Data's buy-and-built project from the start. This acquisition highlights our combined ambition to turn Kappa Data into a pan-European Value Added Distributor.”