MCL IT, a German IT consulting services provider and hardware reseller backed by private equity firm One Equity Partners, has acquired Elanity, a Microsoft infrastructure, Office 365 and Azure cloud partner. Terms of the deal were not released.
This is M&A deal 432 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020. See the full M&A deal list here.
The two companies have more than 3,700 customers combined, with Elanity bringing several hundred contracts for IT operations from its own customer base, according to MCL.
MCL, armed with Elanity, now offers a full-stack suite of Microsoft solutions for infrastructure in the data center and in Office 365 and Azure, the company said.
MCL, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Böblingen, Baden-Württemberg, also offers solutions for hybrid data centers, modern workspace, smart networks and security solutions. One Equity Partners acquired MCL in March 2020.
MCL Acquires Elanity: ‘Closer’ to Customers
In a statement about the Elanity deal, MCL COO Stefan Voss commented:
“Elanity is completely oriented towards the real needs of its customers - the 'jobs-to-be-done.' With a great and highly committed team, the company performs exceptionally well. This focus on customer success corresponds absolutely to our philosophy and is reflected in the high level of customer satisfaction. Naturally, we really liked that. Thanks to the mutual reinforcement and the expansion of our regional footprint, we will act even more 'closer' to our customers in terms of content and region. Their requirements are currently changing very quickly, and we see an even more pronounced need for IT flexibility and security."
Elanity founder Peter Schröder added:
“For us, the absolute focus on employees and customers has always been the focus and we are pleased to continue to pursue this direction at MCL without restriction and even to accelerate it thanks to new opportunities. We are particularly pleased that, in addition to the complementary product portfolio, we have found such a comparable, positive corporate culture at MCL.”
Dr. Jörg Zirener, senior managing director of One Equity Partners (OEP), concluded:
“For the shareholders and all colleagues at MCL, this was an important first step on the way to developing the company into a leading German system house for cloud transformation and next generation infrastructure. We continue to see great potential in the German market to expand the MCL service and product portfolio in the interests of our customers in order to be able to serve them end-to-end.”
Following the deal, MCL headcount totals around 220 employees spread throughout its nine locations. Forty of those workers come from Elanity. MCL says it is actively seeking more workers to help further its organic growth.
Elanity founders Peter Schröder and Andreas Waltje will contribute both as shareholders of MCL and in leadership roles, the buyer said. Waltje will serve as managing director of Elanity and Schröder as advisory board member of the MCL Group and Alliance Manager Microsoft.
One Equity Partners Investment History
The German hardware IT value-added reseller (VAR) market was estimated to exceed €20 billion in 2019. In OEP’s opinion, the market is currently highly fragmented, with a number of small and niche resellers and service providers.
OEP’s other key investments include Computer Design & Integration, a leading U.S. provider of IT infrastructure hardware and software, consulting and managed services; SAP partner Rizing; and digital transformation specialist Orion Business Information.
OEP was founded in 2001 and spun out of JP Morgan in 2015.
