Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT) announced today that it has closed the acquisition of the Magirus Group (Magirus), a leading pan-European distributor of data center solutions and services. Magirus is a respected value-add distributor of software, systems and related services encompassing virtualization, storage management, cloud computing, security, intelligent networks, open source, and information life-cycle management services. Through its professional services portfolio and knowledge of the IT sector, Magirus enables business partners to take new technologies to market in 11 markets throughout Europe and the Middle East. The company generated revenue of approximately US$530 million in the 2011 calendar year.

Phil Gallagher, president of Avnet Technology Solutions, Global, commented, “We are very excited with the addition of Magirus to our existing resources and footprint in EMEA. We believe we have the opportunity to create an exciting and in some cases unique value-added distribution offering in the market. Their talented team and their key customer relationships will enhance our competitive position in Europe and the Middle East. In addition, Magirus’ portfolio of services expands our suite of solutions in high-growth market segments which helps us satisfy the increasing appetite for integrated and virtualized solutions. Magirus increased its revenue 20% in calendar 2011, delivering powerful, flexible and cost-effective data center solutions from a breadth of suppliers, including Cisco, VMware and EMC.”

Founded in 1981, Magirus has 400 business and technical professionals that help over 4,500 resellers, system integrators and IT service providers develop and deploy IT infrastructure solutions that bring together traditional server, storage and network operations so that constantly changing business requirements can be supported more efficiently. Its services span demand generation, pre-sales, consultancy, training, certification, implementation as well as support from its pan-European, multi-lingual support center. Magirus will be integrated into Avnet Technology Solutions’ EMEA business.

Graeme Watt, president, Avnet Technology Solutions (TS) EMEA commented, “Adding to our portfolio in high growth technologies while also strengthening our presence in key geographies is a strategic imperative to accelerate profitable growth in TS EMEA. The Magirus acquisition is an excellent fit with our current operations as it adds complementary product lines across the region, while meaningfully increasing our scale in important markets. Magirus’ position with market-leading suppliers will bolster our solutions practices and create significant cross-selling opportunities in the combined customer base. Through this acquisition, our customers and suppliers will benefit significantly as the combined expertise of both organizations will enable us to accelerate their success.”

This acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and achieve Avnet’s return on capital goal of 12.5% within two years.