10 blockbuster tech buyouts of the Australian summer

The summer of M&A

From telcos buying (Telstra) and selling (Vocus) to mergers between integrators and distressed asset sales from struggling distributors, the past couple of month's had it all.

Here are 10 of the biggest mergers and acquisition deals over the summer.

Logicalis buys Thomas Duryea

The merger between the homegrown Thomas Duryea and the globally owned Logicalis will create a $120 million integrator giant.

The deal creates a powerhouse in the channel with credentials from the desktop to the data centre, and expertise in storage, cloud, networking, security and ICT services.

Read the full story.

Generation-e acquires Paradyne

The deal between two award-winning Microsoft partners creates a 1,000-client powerhouse in unified communications and cloud.

As well as both holding Microsoft Gold status, the two companies are both previous CRN Fast50 companies, Paradyne having placed No.8 in 2013 and Generation-e appearing three times between 2009 to 2011.

Read the full story.

Cirrus Networks buys L7 Solutions

Cirrus paid just $500,000 for L7 Solutions, four years after Amcom paid $15 million for it.

L7 has changed ownership four times in the past four years, first Amcom, then Vocus, then M2, and now Cirrus.

Cirrus chief executive Frank Richmond it would allow the company to expand its managed services footprint and grow its client base”.

Read the full story.

Amaysim buys Vaya

The publicly listed Amaysim bought fellow Optus 4G reseller Vaya for $70 million last month.

Amaysim flagged Vaya’s Philippines’ service unit as “a great opportunity to create an overflow capacity for Amaysim and to fast-track our platform, web and app development”.

Read the full story.

Microsoft buys Event Zero

The buyout of the unified communications provider Event Zero was a huge coup for the Queensland-based company.

Zig Serafin, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Skype for Business team, announced the acquisition of "the technology assets underlying the UC Commander product suite from Event Zero, a leading provider of management software for Skype for Business Online".

Read the full story.

Leader Computers buys Altech

The struggling distie had some partial relief when Leader acquired its customer list and IP.

The deal gives Leader a foothold in Western Australia, and Altech’s resellers are new distributor to access their niche vendor partners.

Altech has since been wound up.

Read the full story.

Telstra buys Kloud

The Melbourne-based cloud provider became part of the biggest telco in the country in a deal understood to be worth $40 million.

Kloud has been one of the fastest-growing and best regarded of the new breed of cloud integrators.

The award-winning Microsoft partner placed No. 25 in the 2015 CRN Fast50 for 58 percent growth in revenue, to hit the $30 million mark.

The company made its CRN Fast50 debut in 2014, when it ranked No.3 after growing 135 percent to achieve revenue of $19.2 million.

Read the full story.

Summit Group nabs customers from PCRange

While not a complete acquisition, Melbourne-based Summit Group had a sizeable win buying the assets and customers from SIPTalk and OnPBX, the two VoIP communications subsidiaries once owned by the now-defunct PCRange.

The Summit Group, which acts both as a wholesaler and retailer, supplies managed service providers, IT resellers, small ISPs, virtual ISPs, telephone system installers and VARs access via a reseller and wholesale program.

Adelaide-based networking distributor PCRange was liquidated after 16 years in business.

Read the full story.

Bulletproof buys Cloud House

ASX-listed Bulletproof boosted its AWS prowess even further with the acquisition of New Zealand partner Cloud House.

Bulletproof will pay up to $3.8 million for the Kiwi cloud provider, acquiring boots on the ground in New Zealand in the process. This is the third acquisition Bulletproof has made in the past two years, which also include Pantha Corp in 2014 and Infoplex in 2015.

Read the full story.

PS&C buys another security firm - 1 February

The Melbourne-based company paid $2.1 million for Certitude, an IT governance and risk services company.

The acquisition directly adds to PS&C’s growing governance offering, enabling security and risk program management and execution across the entire group.

PS&C was formed in 2013 through the roll-up of four IT providers, including infosec companies HackLabs and Securus. The company also purchased Sydney-based security firm Pure Hacking for $16 million in 2014.

Read the full story.