Clearwater International advises GTI Group on its sale to Esprinet S.p.a.

Clearwater International has advised GTI Software y Networking SA (GTI), a specialist in software and cloud solutions, on its sale to Esprinet S.p.a. (Esprinet), a leading distributor of IT and consumer electronics in Southern Europe.

GTI is the number one distributor of cloud software and solutions to value added resellers (VAR) and system integrators in Spain. Established in 1985, GTI is based in Madrid and is also active in Portugal and North Africa. With over 170 employees and a portfolio of 5,500 customers, GTI is an official partner to more than 90 world-class suppliers including Microsoft, Adobe, Red Hat, VMWare, IBM, Veeam, Veritas and Zebra-Motorola.

Since 2017, GTI has gradually abandoned the distribution of hardware products to the retail channel to focus on the business reseller channel to which the business offers a range of value-added software solutions both under license and "pay-per-use" models. In the year ended 30 September 2019, sales of software as a service (SaaS) cloud solutions amounted to €62.4m (34% of the total), up 45% on the previous year. Sales of “on-premise” software amounted to €52.9m (29% of the total).

Esprinet is a leader in the distribution of IT and consumer electronics to IT resellers, VAR, system integrators, specialised shops, retailers and e-commerce portals. With a turnover in 2019 of roughly €4bn, Esprinet is among the top 50 Italian industrial groups and the top 10 distributors worldwide. With roughly 1,300 employees, the business boasts 30,000 reseller clients and markets approximately 130,000 different products to more than 650 worldwide vendors through managed warehouses in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

The transaction is consistent with Esprinet Group’s strategy of consolidating its leadership in Southern Europe, particularly in the advanced solutions segment, and establishing itself as a key player in the SaaS and infrastructure as a service segments, in line with the progressive affirmation of a pay-per-use technology sales model compared to the traditional transactional method.