Bechtle Acquires iits.

With the acquisition Bechtle expands its German solution business and system house network / iits management remains in place.

Neckarsulm/Oldenburg, 28.05.2010 — Bechtle AG has acquired iits GmbH & Co. KG along with its 4 system houses spread across Northern Germany. The Bechtle Group has strengthened its position in the growing IT infrastructure and communications market for computer centres. In the fiscal year 2009 iits earned approximately 40 million euros in revenue while employing a staff of 66 for a very profitable balance. The company is among the five largest system houses in Northern Germany. In addition to the company's headquarters in Oldenburg, it has system houses in Bremen, Cloppenburg and Hannover. The acquisition is consistent with Bechtle's strategy of maintaining a regional presence throughout the German-speaking markets.

As is usually the case with Bechtle acquisitions, the management structure of the acquired company will remain intact. This means that the managing directors of the company and the management of the company's locations and branch offices will continue to be handled as before by the previous management. Both founding partners and managing directors Michael Uffelmann and Thomas Gäbelein will retain their respective positions within the company. The company name iits will also remain unchanged for the time being. The parties agreed to keep the purchase price confidential. The acquisition is subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities.

In the last eight years iits has established itself in the Northern German market, offering its customer base of predominantly medium-sized businesses and public bodies a full service portfolio consisting of development, implementation and operation of high availability server, storage, network and data centre solutions. iits will profit from significant synergy effects and economies of scale offered by Bechtle's logistics and service division with its purchasing and product management, as well as from the financial power of the Bechtle Group. Access to nationwide Competence Centres and their specialists will also extend iits' range of services.

iits is a certified HP Preferred Partner, Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Fujitsu Select Expert and VMware VIP Enterprise Partner among others.

Dr. Thomas Olemotz, chief executive officer of Bechtle AG:

“The acquisition of iits is an important step in increasing Bechtle's market presence and in gaining more market share. I'm very confident that iits will flourish within the Bechtle Group. Both companies complement one another well with regards to their respective core business and product portfolio, as well as with respect to their customer base and supplier partnerships. Both companies share similar business models, which should go a long way to facilitating the integration process.”

Michael Uffelmann / Thomas Gäbelein, managing directors of iits GmbH & Co. KG:

“In Bechtle AG we have found the ideal partner. Not only will we profit from noticeable synergy effects and the possibilities that come with a financially powerful coroporation represented across Europe, we will also be able to maintain the freedom to operate our system house on site. For our customers and our employees this will provide, above all, stability and security, and it will enable us to expand our range of services and competitiveness.”

Michael Uffelmann, managing director

Thomas Gäbelein, managing director