By Matthew Henry

BRISBANE: ASX-listed distributor, Cellnet Group, has acquired South Australian IT products distributor, HiTech, for an undisclosed sum, the company announced to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday.

Cellnet managing director, Adam Davenport, said the acquisition will add volume to its existing brands, including Acer – a shared client – as well as bolstering Cellnet’s Victorian and South Australian operations.

"Acer was very important to their business and to ours. There is some overlap, but the business fits nicely with ours," Davenport said.

"They have a loyal reseller base, and good relationships with Canon and Epson – brands that are also important to us."

Other brands distributed by HiTech included Epson, MYOB, Samsung, Symantec, Belkin, Microsoft, NEC and Lexmark.

The HiTech takeover follows the recent acquisition of Victoria-based SanDisk flash memory products distributor, VME Systems, and continues the company’s momentum following a restructure earlier this year when the distributor’s various businesses were united under the Cellnet banner.

Davenport said the South Australian market is similar to Cellnet’s home state of Queensland.

"It’s largely a regional market with an SMB customer base. This is the space we have done well in," he said.

"The company has a very large customer base in South Australia, and we are looking forward to introducing our range of products to them."

HiTech founder and managing director, Ian Vagg, will migrate to Cellnet for 12 months to oversee the integration of his business into the Cellnet fold.

HiTech CEO, Richard Davies, will also take up a senior management role with Cellnet, and the company’s 12 other staff will be retained.

“The best deals are where everyone wins and by any measure this is a great deal,” said Vagg in a statement to the ASX.

“Our customers win because they will still be serviced by the same friendly sales and warehouse team, with the added advantage of a much broader produt range and increased resources. Our staff win because they will now work for a large public company with improved career prospects.”