Inabox acquired managed cloud hosting firm Hostworks from parent company BAI Communications for $7 million.
However Inabox revealed In November that poor performance from Hostworks made a significant negative impact on its overall financial performance. Inabox initially expected Hostworks to contribute $21.8 million in revenue and $3.5 million in earnings in the 2018 financial year, but is likely to contribute just $15 million in revenue and provide negligible earnings.
In March, Inabox also acquired Perth-based managed IT and cloud services provider Logic Communications for $1.5 million.
Tech Data's acquisition of global distributor Avnet's US$9.65 billion Technology Solutions business completed in March. The closure of the US$2.6 billion deal, announced earlier this week, will boost US-based Tech Data's share of overall revenue coming from the data centre from just 29 percent to 45 percent while more than doubling operating income after cost savings.
Tech Data also unveiled a new, six-person global operations team reporting to chief operating officer Rich Hume comprised of three Tech Data and three Avnet TS leaders. Hume and Tech Data's existing top financial, human resources, legal and information leaders will remain with the company and continue reporting to Tech Data chief executive Bob Dutkowsky.
The three Avnet TS executives joining the team are: Patrick Zammit, formerly Avnet TS' global president, who is now president of Tech Data Europe; William Chu, Avnet TS' Asia-Pacific president, who is now president of Tech Data Asia-Pacific; and Jaideep Malhotra, Avnet's senior vice president of global computing components, who will become president of global computing components for Tech Data.
Staples sold its Australian and New Zealand business to private investment firm Platinum Equity for an undisclosed amount.
In August, the company was retitled ‘Winc’, a name the company said was derived from the term “work incorporated”, and is expected to represent a “breakaway from traditional competitors” as the company adjusts its focus to more than just office product reselling.
Platinum Equity in April also acquired Office Max from its US parent company Office Depot for an undisclosed amount.
Dark fibre telco Superloop acquired infrastructure provider SubPartners in April, broadband provider NuSkope in September and wi-fi connectivity specialist GX2 in November.
Superloop shelled out $3.3 million for SubPartners, $10 million for NuSkope and GX2 for up to $12 million.
Superloop's growth and acquisition strategy is hinged on its vision to become "the most trusted enabler of connectivity and managed services in Asia-Pacific", according to the company. It owns and operates more than 600km of carrier-grade metro fibre netowrks in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, an infrastructure that connects more than 250 data centres and commercial buildings in the region.
Perth-headquartered Cirrus Networks acquired NGage Technology Group for $2.5 million in March, then bought Correct Communications for up to $5 million in November.
The deals brought together high-performers from the CRN Fast50 awards – Cirrus came in at No.3 in 2015, while NGage had appeared every year since its first entry four years ago as the 2013 winner.
Correct Communications placed No.5 in the 2016 CRN Fast50 after nearly tripling revenue to reach $9.7 million in 2016.
Telecommunications provider Amaysim entered into the online energy retail market with the acquisition of Click Energy Group for $120 million in April.
The addition of an energy vertical accelerates the company's strategy of providing multiple services to Australian households and the "vision" of becoming the "remote control for the smart home".
Amaysim has a household customer base of 600,000; the acquisition brought 136,000 from Click. The company expects to achieve an additional 300,000 homes in the next few years through multiple products, with a potential average household revenue of $200 per month.
Melbourne IT acquired digital marketing solutions provider WME Group for $39 million in May.
WME Group provides search engine optimisation (SEO), advertising and web design. Brands within the group include WME, Nothing But Web and Results First.
According to a statement from Melbourne IT, the acquisition strengthens its managed marketing capabilities.
Deloitte acquired boutique managed services provider and devops specialist Strut Digital in May, as the consultant continues its push to onboard smaller, tech-savvy businesses and adopt their approach to services.
Strut Digital specialises in migrating businesses onto cloud-based environments in partnership with Amazon Web Services. The team will rebrand to Deloitte DevOps, a component of Deloitte Technology Consulting’s cloud operating unit, which is led by Kevin Russo, technology, strategy and architecture lead partner.
Deloitte in October acquired Nesoi Solutions, which it claims to be the longest-standing delivery partner of Concur, a provider of cloud-based travel, expense and invoice management solutions.
NSW Central Coast-headquartered hosting provider Servers Australia went on a buying spree in 2017, acquiring hosting provider Oz Servers, Sydney-based Axelera's server and cloud hosting assets and assets of RackCentral.
Oz Servers was acquired in September, the Axelera acquisition was announced a month later and RackCentral was snapped up in December
Servers Australia's continuous acquisitions are part of a bid to become Australia's largest colocation and dedicated hosting provider.
Digital Pacific acquired fellow Sydney firm Anchor Hosting in May for an undisclosed amount, creating a company with more than 100,000 customers internationally.
Founded in 2000, Anchor has made a name for itself as both a hosting provider as well as an Amazon Web Services partner, supporting global startups such as developer community GitHub and Apple beta testing site TestFlight, as well as Australian customers Booktopia and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Digital Pacific, which uses carrier-grade equipment from Juniper Networks and Cisco, offers a range of internet services, including domain name registrations, hosting, virtual private servers and dedicated servers, with its primary facility in Sydney among five data centres around the globe.
ASG pulled the rug from under DWS in June after successfully outbidding the Melbourne company to acquire SMS Management and Technology for $124 million.
DWS announced plans to merge with SMS in February, which would have created one of the largest IT solutions providers in the country with $463.7 million in annual revenue and nearly 2000 Australian staff.
Perth-based rival ASG revealed in May that it was also in talks with SMS and put in a legally binding bid last week to acquire 100 percent of the company’s shares for $1.80 each in cash.
Digital Pacific was acquired by the Australian arm of US company Deluxe Corp In August for $52 million as the consolidation of the local hosting sector continues at pace.
The acquisition was carried out in July by Hostopia Australia, the local arm of the wholesale web service provider owned by Deluxe. Digital Pacific is expected to bring in US$9 million to Deluxe this financial year.
As part of the transaction, Digital Pacific chief Andrew Koloadin has stepped down from his role, 18 years after founding the company, though he remains on the board of directors.
MYOB acquired Sydney-based Reckon’s accounting practice management software business in Novemebr for $180 million in an all-cash deal.
Reckon handed over its APS, Elite and Docs businesses to MYOB as part of the deal, while retaining its business and legal practice management divisions.
In February, MYOB acquired Aussie payment platform Paycorp for $48 million, with the aim of bridging a gap between MYOB’s accounting and payment solutions.
Sydney-based managed services provider CommsChoice will merge with four other IT companies and float on the ASX to form a $28 million-revenue group.
The deal will brings together CommsChoice with unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) provider Telegate, cloud provider Oracle Telecom, and networking and VoIP providers Woffle and Telaustralia.
All five companies will work together under three operating divisions — enterprise and small business for Australian, New Zealand and Singaporean customers, and an international division for Australian multinational companies.
Sydney's VMtech was acquired by Telstra in December as a part of the telco's aim to step up its game in the delivery of hybrid cloud and security solutions.
The transaction, for an undisclosed sum, will see Telstra boost its network applications and services business, both locally and globally.
“Customers are looking to us to provide hybrid solutions for their network, security and cloud infrastructure, as well as support with defining, architecting, implementing and managing these solutions,” said Christopher Smith, Telstra business technology services executive director.
Global data centre giant Equinix has revealed plans to acquire Australian data centre operator Metronode for $1 billion in cash.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2018 but is still subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.
The acquisition will expand Equinix' data centre footprint in Australia to 15, with the addition of Metronode's 10 data centres, which includes two in Melbourne, three in the greater Sydney area, two in Perth, and one in Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Melbourne-headquartered cloud construction collaboration and solution provider Aconex is set to be acquired by Oracle for $1.6 billion, the company revealed.
Aconex told investors that it has entered into a binding scheme implementation deed with Oracle, under which the vendor will acquire 100 percent of the shares of Aconex for $7.80 per share.
The $7.80 cash price per Aconex share represents a 47 percent premium on the Aconex closing price of $5.29 last Friday (15 December), a 50 percent premium on the one-month volume weighted average price of $5.19 to 15 December and a 64 percent premium to the three month volume weighted average price of $4.74 to 15 December.
Three ICT firms will join five other digital, marketing and training companies in a mega-merger to form Trimantium GrowthOps.
Enterprise cloud and software provider 3wks, Asia-focused IT consulting firm Digital Moshi, mobile app developer Jtribe will be part of the “business transformation services” platform upon getting listed to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
GrowthOps is seeking to raise $70 million through an initial public offering (IPO) to complete the merger of eight companies.
Inabox acquired managed cloud hosting firm Hostworks from parent company BAI Communications for $7 million.
However Inabox revealed In November that poor performance from Hostworks made a significant negative impact on its overall financial performance. Inabox initially expected Hostworks to contribute $21.8 million in revenue and $3.5 million in earnings in the 2018 financial year, but is likely to contribute just $15 million in revenue and provide negligible earnings.
In March, Inabox also acquired Perth-based managed IT and cloud services provider Logic Communications for $1.5 million.