Apollo Acquisition of Tech Data Closes, New Investments Coming

Apollo Global Management’s acquisition of Tech Data has closed. Following the $5.4 billion deal is an approximately $750 million investment to digitally transform the distributor to better serve partners.

News of the acquisition first surfaced in November 2019. At that time, 45- year old Tech Data the acquirer, joined a list of distributors being acquired.

Tech Data’s Richard Hume

“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,” said Rich Hume, chief executive officer at Tech Data. “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.”

Expect state-of-the-art enhancements

There are a number of investment projects ahead in the 5-year investment plan. To drive digital transformation at Tech Data, efforts will focus on delivering state-of-the-art automation, platforms and analytics. A program is in place to build a hyper-scalable digital business platform and a cloud -based digital marketplace. These initiatives support the distributor’s growth plans and serve emerging technology markets and consumption models.

Since the acquisition of Tech Data by Apollo came to light, Tech Data continued to announce new programs for partners.

For example, the distributor recently wrapped up its two-day Next Tech Digital Experience event. There were sessions with vendor partners and a discussion on what post-COVID priorities might look like, to name a few agenda items.

In March, Tech Data launched Tech Data Coaches, an online and mentoring community for Tech Data partners in the U.S. and Canada. And, the distributor recently launched an on-line version of its Digital Security Practice Builder.

Also, Tech Data, like many of its competitors, offered support programs to help partners through the COVID-19 pandemic.