"Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it."
-Andy Rooney
November 07,2016
Insight to Acquire Datalink
Financial Information
- Enterprise Value $222.8 million
- EV/LTM Revenue 0.29x
- EV/LTM EBITDA 10.56x
Transaction Facts
- $5.4 billion solution provider Insight Enterprises (Nasdaq: NSIT) announced today that it has agreed to acquire Datalink Corporation (Nasdaq: DTLK), a leading provider of IT services and enterprise data center solutions.
- Insight will acquire Datalink for $11.25 per share in cash, a 19% premium over Datalink’s closing share price on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016.
- Following the acquisition, all 570 employees are expected to join Insight, with Datalink CEO Paul Lidsky incentivized to stay on as a consultant following the conclusion of the transaction.
- The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, creating a powerhouse in the data center space.
Solution Providers Seek Out Growth, Organic or Not
- Benefitting on Top and Bottom: Insight expects to add $600 million to its top line in this transaction, as well as to achieve cost savings of $20 million within two years of closing. Per Raymond James analyst Brian Alexander, the transaction implies an approximate EV/EBITDA of 5.0x assuming full realization of synergies – a number that has the potential to increase given stronger growth.
- Adding Clients and Sector Expertise: This deal brings to Insight a stable of more than 130 field engineers and architects and 80 services consultants, as well as a healthy roster of 2,000 clients of all sizes. Both companies can benefit from improved cross-selling capabilities.
- Doubling Down on Services: As with many other solution providers, Insight has been seeking means of increasing its services revenue, which is traditionally higher margin and more sticky than pure product revenue. It recently announced services revenue up 12 percent in the most recent quarter, and last October acquired BlueMetal, an interactive design company.
- Grounding the Cloud: The prevailing industry shift to the cloud has created a need for its underlying infrastructure, driving demand for data center equipment and associated services. With the acquisition of pure-play Datalink, Insight is positioning itself to take advantage of these trends.
For more information about this transaction, click here to read the press release.
martinwolf advised Insight in this transaction.