RS Group completes acquisition of Distrelec
RS Group has completed its EUR 365 million acquisition of distributor Distrelec B.V.
Distrelec serves approximately 180,000 customers across 19 countries, significantly expanding RS’s presence in continental Europe, especially in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.
Headquartered in Manchester, UK, Distrelec has approximately 400 employees and 12 sales offices across Europe. It also operates two distribution centres in Switzerland and the Netherlands and a shared service centre in Latvia.
Distrelec is a complementary business to RS with a comparable product mix and customer-centric focus, plus industry-leading product availability. Similar to RS, two thirds of Distrelec's revenue are from digital channels and the average order value is also comparable to RS. This strong competitive position increases RS’s revenue by about 40% in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), about 80% in Scandinavia, and adds scale in Italy, Benelux and Eastern Europe.
There is a high degree of overlap in the largely European supplier base, and the combined distribution network will improve the customer experience and operational efficiency of both RS and Distrelec. In addition, there will be increased revenue synergies from cross‐selling opportunities of RS’s own brand and solutions offer.
Distrelec will be integrated into the Group's EMEA region, overseen by Peter Malpas (President EMEA, RS) with key members of Distrelec's management team including Raj Patel (Managing Director) and Ben Scholey (Chief Information Officer).
"The acquisition of Distrelec materially strengthens our presence in key European markets. It is a complementary business to RS and has excellent value creation potential with a strong cultural and operational fit. Like RS, Distrelec promotes a high‐performance culture with good levels of employee engagement and satisfaction,” says Simon Pryce, CEO of RS Group, in the press release.
