Bechtle on hunt for M&A in Spain as COVID cripples local rivals

Bechtle is actively pursuing an acquisition in Spain, according to its Spanish managing director, as the reseller giant looks to bolster its market share in the southern European market.

Juan José Moneo has told CPI that as several smaller local rivals have had their cash flow decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, many have now become potential M&A targets.

"I think there is a concentration of them in the market now. Of course, Bechtle has had really strong organic growth but we are also looking to be a winner in the market in other ways," he said.

"The big problem is with liquidity in customers here - especially for smaller companies and those that don't have a long-term plan for this situation.

"We are looking for opportunities in companies that have the same culture as Bechtle. It will be an opportunity to increase our market share in Spain."

Before lockdown, Spain was the EU's sixth largest economy by GDP.

However, according to a European Union report released this week, Spain has suffered the biggest GDP contraction in Q2 in the entire bloc; a decline of 18.5 per cent.

And with schools opening across Spain this week, authorities are anticipating another spike in infection rates.

Moneo says Becthle Spain is currently logging 24 per cent year on year revenue growth.

However his team, all 86 of who are still working remotely away from the Madrid and Barcelona offices, are anticipating further challenges from their own customers and the country's government as they face further financial pressure.

"We are growing, but on the other hand we are really worried about the health situation and we are really worried about the economic situation. Because the government needs money; It needs European support."

He added that Bechtle is currently working with vendors such as HP to issue credit options to help customers.

"We are working with HP financial services and DLL. But we are also accelerating our strategy for devices as a service. That change in the financing model from capex to opex is also an opportunity for the customer to recover from the pandemic."

Moneo did highlight that spending is ramping up in two key verticals; education and healthcare, influenced by COVID-19 public sector priorities.

"Of course, there is a lot of investment in health, in hospitals, but in the public sector there is also undergoing an acceleration in trying to digitise citizen's data in order to avoid people needing to come into government buildings in person.

"There is also increased investment in children's education at this time."

"Businesses are running and we hope the situation will improve in the next month."

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• Topics
• Solution Provider
• Bechtle Spain
• Spain
• European Union
• Moneo
• M&A
• German VAR
• Southern Europe
• HP
• DLL