Bechtle has acquired Grupo Solutia Tecnologia, an IT services firm with more than 600 employees, to grow its presence in Spain.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

Germany-based Bechtle is part IT consultancy, part reseller. The company operates an e-commerce store that offers servers, cybersecurity software and other technology products. Bechtle can help clients set up those products, as well as train their employees in using them. Companies that don’t wish to create more work for their technical staff may hire the firm to manage their newly bought IT systems. 

Grupo Solutia is a Spanish firm with a similar business model. The company sells workstations, tablets and other devices along with complementary professional services. Grupo Solutia can develop a custom Linux distribution for the systems that a client buys. It tests the systems for reliability issues before shipping them, then helps with ongoing maintenance. The firm says that it provides post-sales technical support for more than one million devices.

Grupo Solutia also competes in other parts of the IT services market. It helps clients with tasks such as setting up Salesforce environments and digitizing paper documents.

“With the acquisition of Grupo Solutia, we are gaining an additional, well established IT provider with strong expertise and numerous specialists in the areas of workplace solutions, software development, and IT services,” a Bechtle spokesperson told Boardroom Insight. “This significantly complements and strengthens the Bechtle Group’s sales and service activities in Spain, particularly with customers in the public sector.”

Bechtle is no stranger to the Spanish IT market. The company first established a presence in the country more than two decades ago and already had three local subsidiaries prior to the acquisition of Grupo Solutia. One of them, iDoo, is an Apple reseller that it bought last year.

“In conjunction with the other group companies in the Spanish market – Bechtle direct, iDoo, and Prosol – we also expect significant synergies through comprehensive customer support in the industrial and public sectors,” the Bechtle spokesperson explained. “Furthermore, as part of a large, financially strong European IT group, Grupo Solutia will find excellent conditions to accelerate its growth.”

The acquisition will nearly double Bechtle’s annual revenue in Spain to €220 million and grow its local workforce fivefold. The company says that its next goal is becoming one of Spain’s five largest IT service providers within two years.

Photo courtesy of Bechtle