Good News For Partners
Ingram Micro ownership is returning stateside with an announcement Wednesday that the distributor will be purchased by Los Angeles-based private equity firm Platinum Equity Partners for $7.2 billion.
The deal ends four years of ownership by HNA Group, a massive Chinese air carrier that embarked on a heavily leveraged acquisition binge that has since hobbled its growth and forced it to divest property as it struggles to make payments on its debt. HNA told Chinese regulators in May that it missed a $750 million payment on a $4 billion loan that was used to buy Ingram Micro.
The acquisition of Ingram Micro is expected to close in early 2021. Platinum Equity Partners, which was founded by Chairman and CEO Tom Gores in 1995, has $23 billion in assets under management.
“It is great news,” said Mark Essayian, president of KME Systems, a Lake Forest, Calif.-based MSP. “I’m very glad to see Ingram Micro management remove the company from Chinese ownership. As a partner of Ingram, I applaud the growth that they have achieved and welcome the comments by [Ingram Micro CEO] Alain Monié and Tom Gores focused on making Ingram even stronger.”
Here is an in-depth look at the acquisition and what it means to the distribution business and the channel.
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