Latest Channel M&A: HPE, TBI, Cisco, Pax8, Sumo Logic, Trend Micro, More
Francisco Partners acquired another firm doing business in the channel. The deal is worth $1.7 billion.
March 11, 2023
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Francisco Partners, a global investment firm, is acquiring publicly traded Sumo Logic for $1.7 billion, taking the company private.
Francisco Partners should complete its acquisition of Sumo Logic in the second quarter subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Sumo Logic stockholders and required regulatory approvals. Upon closing, Sumo Logic’s common stock will no longer be listed on any public market.
“The acquisition should result in a positive outcome for Sumo Logic,” said Omdia’s Eric Parizo. “The company has been one of the fastest-growing vendors in the could-native next-generation security information and event management (SIEM) market, with well over 2,000 customers.”
There is a downside to going public. Find out more here.
It’s not a surprise that AT&T wants to sell its cybersecurity unit as the carrier has struggled to match industry expectations for the business following its acquisition of AlienVault in 2018.
Reuters was first to report that AT&T is looking to sell its cybersecurity division. It said the carrier has been working with Barclays to solicit potential bids for the business. AT&T acquired AlienVault in a roughly $600 million deal.
Experts say the AlienVault acquisition by AT&T wasn’t right from the start. Read more here.
Cisco is acquiring Valtix, a multicloud network security platform as a service, to increase its cloud security capabilities. The deal should close by the end of Cisco’s third quarter of fiscal 2023 on April 30. Cisco isn’t disclosing financial details of the transaction.
Cisco has been a strategic investor in Valtix since 2020. It supports Valtix’s commitment to simplify network security, protecting workloads no matter which cloud they are created or consumed in.
The Valtix team will join the Cisco security business group.
Learn more about how Valtix combines multicloud security with cloud-first simplicity and on-demand scale.
Cox Communications is beefing up its managed services capabilities in AWS and Azure cloud environments with the acquisition of Logicworks.
Logicworks is a provider of professional services and managed services in the public cloud. The company is a gold-certified Microsoft Azure partner and an expert AWS consulting and managed services provider.
“With Logicworks in our commercial services portfolio, we can help customers better migrate and manage systems in the cloud while they focus on business priorities,” said Mark Greatrex, president, Cox Communications. “This acquisition is part of our larger plan to offer a comprehensive suite of innovative IT solutions.”
Discover more here about Cox’s past deals.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is buying private cellular network technology provider Athonet with the goal of strengthening its private 5G network play.
Italy-based Athonet has been delivering 4G and 5G mobile cores since its inception in 2005. HPE plans to integrate Athonet’s software with its own to give enterprises an option to deploy Wi-Fi and private 5G services into one single monthly subscription. It will also ultimately integrate Athonet with its Aruba networking portfolio, executives said. HPE’s GreenLake cloud services platform will deliver the offering.
Find out more about HPE’s long-term integration plans.
AppDirect executives say their purchase of technology services distributor TBI creates the largest ecosystem in the tech advisor channel.
The deal unites one of the channel’s longest running tech services distributors (TSDs) in 32-year-old TBI with CDPQ-backed AppDirect, which has acquired a handful of tech services distributors (TSDs) over the last four years. The deal also represents another domino falling in the field of national TSDs, after PlanetOne and TCG agreed to deals last year. AppDirect beat out a competitive field of suitors, including multiple national TSDs and one IT distributor, to purchase TBI. (Learn more here.)
For TBI owner Geoffrey Shepstone and many members of his senior leadership team, the acquisition meant a large — though lower than expected — payout and a job at AppDirect going forward. But for the dozens of TBI employees laid off prior to the acquisition, their exit reportedly came as a shock.
Channel Futures reported that at least 58 people had been laid off in two separate workforce reductions prior to the closing of the deal. Other estimates in the past week have put that number even higher. TBI last year disclosed to the Chicago Tribune that it employed 230 U.S. workers. AppDirect did not provide an official number of people who joined AppDirect from the TBI side, but sources indicate it is closer to 150. Sources have clarified that a sizable portion of employees left TBI of their own accord in the last year. (Read more from our ongoing coverage here.)
For Mark Venuto, chief operating officer at AppDirect partner US Network, it’s business as usual. The additive area, Venuto noted, is in TBI’s telecom processes, particularly with some of the larger service providers. But otherwise, he doesn’t see any disruption.
“The resources that I currently work with today will remain intact for us,” Venuto told Channel Futures. “I’ll see no change in resources from AppDirect. And if anything else, additional resources will help facilitate our sales volume and help increase our close ratio.” (Learn what partners had to say about the acquisition.
Channel partners will have to wait a while longer to find out how the Broadcom-VMware combination will affect them.
Last month, VMware noted in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the deal will not close until at least May 26. That marks exactly one year from the date the companies announced their $61 billion transaction.
The merger has encountered regulatory obstacles, mainly from the European Union’s antitrust arm, the European Commission. In fact, the European Commission earlier this month stopped the clock on its investigation into Broadcom-VMware. Authorities were waiting on Broadcom to supply missing information.
Broadcom apparently did so and, according to various media reports, the European Commission will decide by June 7 whether to approve or block the pending merger. It’s not clear how that activity will mesh with the intended May 26 closing date.
The Broadcom-VMware merger represents the second-largest tech deal of 2022, topped only by Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard.
Find out more in our cloud roundup.
Bluewave Technology Group has acquired SinglePoint Communications Group in a move that doubles down on its Louisville, Kentucky-area presence and strengthens its East Coast footprint.
The deal represents one of the first instances of a private equity company selling its purchased technology advisor (agent) partner. Soterra Capital, which bought SinglePoint Solutions in 2016 and later bought other technology advisory firms, will be a minority equity holder in Bluewave following the sale.
Find out more about the seller, Solterra Capital.
IT asset management firm ScalePad is buying Cognition360, a business intelligence and analytics platform for MSPs. Cognition360’s business intelligence platform harnesses the power of live data to uncover performance insights. It provides MSPs new opportunities for increased profitability and productivity.
Cognition360 officials said ScalePad is a recognized market in the MSP communication for innovative software solutions that “drive revenue and efficiency.”
Furthermore, ScalePad announced the appointments of a COO and VP of mergers and acquisitions.
Learn more about them here.
The 20 MSP, fresh off 13 acquisitions in 2022, has made its first two of the new year.
The first is Dallas Network Services (DNS), an MSP with headquarters in Addison, Texas. Bill Butler is the owner and chief executive officer. The other acquisition is Integrated Business Technologies (IBT), run by Eric Kehmeier. IBT serves customers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
The 20, an MSP itself, has an aggressive strategy to grow its national footprint.
Learn more about the key reasons The 20 MSP pursued the companies for acquisition.
Pax8 managed service providers (MSPs) seeking to help their customers automate more business processes have a new champion in Bam Boom Cloud.
On Thursday, cloud marketplace distributor Pax8 announced its latest acquisition — that of U.S.- and U.K.-based Bam Boom Cloud. The company specializes in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central services. In fact, 2022 marked Bam Boom Cloud’s fourth time in a row it earned Microsoft’s Partner of the Year recognition.
Pax8 remains privately held so it did not disclose terms of the deal, its fourth purchase since January 2022. (The cloud marketplace distributor is a pre-IPO, private equity-backed firm. Many industry insiders believe it could go public soon if the IPO market rebounds in 2023; that, or sell to a larger entity in tech distribution.) However, Pax8’s Nick Heddy, chief commerce officer, did tell Channel Futures the company is bringing on Bam Boom’s 135 employees “who live and breathe Dynamics.”
Get more details on the Pax8-Bam Boom Cloud combination here.
Cloud security company Zscaler is acquiring Canonic Security, an Israel-based SaaS application security platform provider. It aims to prevent organizations’ growing risks of SaaS supply chain attacks.
By integrating the new supply chain security capabilities into its data protection services, Zscaler strengthens its cloud access security broker (CASB) and SaaS security posture management (SSPM) offerings.
This new capability builds upon Zscaler’s recently announced zero-configuration data protection solution. In addition, it builds on its focus on data protection wherever the data resides.
Read more here.
Trend Micro is acquiring Anlyz, a provider of security operations center (SOC) technology.
This latest Trend Micro acquisition will enable enterprises and MSSPs to improve operational efficiencies, cost-effectiveness and security outcomes.
The Anlyz acquisition will extend Trend Micro’s orchestration, automation and integration capabilities. The deal encompasses intellectual property, industry expertise and more than 40 technical employees. They’ll focus on bolstering Trend Micro’s security platform strategy.
Through its Anlyz acquisition, Trend Micro will expand its engineering team of more than 3,000 people, adding a new R&D center in Bangalore, India.
Trend Micro also released the findings from its ransomware report. Read more here.
Trend Micro is acquiring Anlyz, a provider of security operations center (SOC) technology.
This latest Trend Micro acquisition will enable enterprises and MSSPs to improve operational efficiencies, cost-effectiveness and security outcomes.
The Anlyz acquisition will extend Trend Micro’s orchestration, automation and integration capabilities. The deal encompasses intellectual property, industry expertise and more than 40 technical employees. They’ll focus on bolstering Trend Micro’s security platform strategy.
Through its Anlyz acquisition, Trend Micro will expand its engineering team of more than 3,000 people, adding a new R&D center in Bangalore, India.
Trend Micro also released the findings from its ransomware report. Read more here.
Our latest channel M&A includes HPE, Pax8, Sumo Logic, Trend Micro and more. Some of the deals in February lacked big dollar signs, but there were some interesting acquisitions to bolster cloud and 5G businesses.
For example, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is buying private cellular network technology provider Athonet. The goal is to strengthen HPE’s private 5G network play. It will also integrate Athonet into its Aruba networking portfolio.
Security also made multiple appearances in February’s roundup. There’s a rumor that AT&T wants to sell its cybersecurity unit, which it acquired for $600 million. Also, Zscaler is buying an Israel-based SaaS application security platform provider. Its goal is to prevent organizations from growing risks of SaaS supply chain attacks.
Then there was global investment firm Francisco Partners acquiring Sumo Logic and taking it private. The deal is worth $1.7 billion. Find out more in our story about the downsides of going public versus private.
Finally, what was perhaps the most talked-about deal: AppDirect buying TBI. This consolidation in the legacy tech advisor space was major watercooler talk when we learned of the final days at the tech services distributor.
See our roundup of wheelings and dealings by HPE, Trend Micro and more in the slideshow above. Then, catch the previous edition here.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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