Synnex shareholders approve $8 billion merger with Largo’s Tech Data

Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times
·2 min read

Tech Data is one step closer to new management.

Shareholders of Fremont, Calif.’s Synnex Corp. on Wednesday voted to approve a proposed $8 billion merger with the Largo technology distribution company. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval and other closing details, but is still expected to close by year’s end.

“We still believe that our transaction will close in the second half of 2021, reflective of a typical six to eight months announce-to-close timeframe for a deal of this size and complexity,” Synnex president and CEO Dennis Polk said during a June 24 conference call with investors. “Since the announcement of the transaction, we have continued to receive internal and external support for the merger.”

Announced in March, the deal was originally estimated to be worth $7.2 billion in stock and net debt. Synnex stock has risen since then, pushing the current price tag north of $8 billion. Synnex shareholders would own 55 percent of the merged company, and Tech Data shareholders would own 45 percent.

The deal came less than a year after Tech Data went private in a $6 billion deal with New York private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

The merger would combine two of the world’s largest technology distribution companies. Synnex is a Fortune 200 company with revenues of $5.9 billion in its most recent quarter. Tech Data was a Fortune 100 company at the time it went private, with more than 14,000 employees in 2020, including 2,000 in Tampa Bay. Combined, the two companies would have 150,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

Tech Data is one of several Tampa Bay companies that have announced plans to sell or merge in 2021.

New Port Richey restaurant equipment supplier Welbilt is weighing two offers on the table, an all-stock deal worth $4.3 billion from an Illinois company, and a cash offer of $3.1 billion from an Italian holding firm. And last month, Tampa’s Sykes Enterprises announced plans to sell to a Miami company in a deal worth $2.2 billion.