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Fieldfisher has acted for international value-added global IT channel company Wayside Technology Group ('Wayside') on its successful acquisition of the entire issued share capital of UK-based IT channel distributor, Spinnakar Limited. The purchase price was US$11.8mn (£9.8mn), subject to working capital and other adjustments, plus a potential post-closing earn out.
Wayside operates across the US, Canada and Europe through multiple business units. Collectively, Wayside’s extensive offerings include products from leading publishers of software and sophisticated tools for managing virtualization and cloud computing, security, connectivity, storage and infrastructure, among other applications.Spinnakar is a UK-based, IT channel distributor focused on storage, cloud, security and data management businesses across Europe, the Middle East and South Africa (“EMEA”).
The deal will see Spinnakar bring scale and channel expertise to Wayside, with more than 15 vendor partners seamlessly integrating with Wayside's European business units, Climb UK and Grey Matter. Wayside anticipates various operating synergies and improvements for vendor recruitment and expansion in EMEA and across the globe.
Fieldfisher's team was led by corporate partner Tim Bird, working alongside fellow corporate partner Andrew Lawton-Smith. They were assisted by corporate associate Ed Slegg. Also assisting on the deal were employment partner Emma Capper, employment senior associate Louise Paull and employment associate Abbie Griffiths together with pensions associate Katie Whelan. Tax and structuring partner Mark Gearing, tax partner Andrew Loan, tax associate Shamina Khan, Alex Beresford from Fieldfisher's Privacy, Security and Information Law team, commercial lawyers Sonal Patel Oliva and Kate Williams and equity incentives lawyer Jessica Kilkelly also advised.
Commenting on the deal, Tim Bird said, "This is a strategically important deal for Wayside and strongly enhances their commercial offering. It was a pleasure to work for Wayside and advise on this key moment in the firm's growth. Credit is due to the team at Fieldfisher for getting this over the line in such a timely and efficient manner".