Value-added services and technologies company Exclusive Group has renewed its declaration of independence by completing a major investment transaction with funds advised by private investment firm, Permira. Rather than consolidating with other major VAD players, this catalyst will enable Exclusive Group to extend its vision and create the world’s largest global specialist VAD in cyber and cloud transformation, with a target to reach $10bn annual revenue in the years ahead.
Olivier Breittmayer, CEO, Exclusive Group, said, “Cybersecurity and cloud are the leading business priorities in this age of digital transformation, both as separate disciplines but – even more so – joined together as a co-dependent whole. Both sectors are becoming increasingly complex, and both suffer from a huge lack of skills and knowledge. The Industry needs a VAD that can fill this gap and we aim to do that. We believe we have the right and relevant focus; vendors, services and skill sets to build a compelling offer for channel partners and vendors to realise significant profitable growth.”
By pursuing a specialist focus in cyber and cloud, Exclusive Group is addressing the widening global shortage in skills and knowledge among channel partners and end-user organisations to enable the desired pace and success of digital transformation. “We have some of the best people in the world and by far the highest ratio of engineers of any distributor in our class,” added Breittmayer. “We also have the greatest track record of ensuring local, regional and global market success for disruptive technologies. Our strategy will see us continue to build out the strongest possible vendor portfolio in our ‘cyber super centres’ and ‘cloud competency centres’ – across all relevant segments – and expand our service offerings and global footprint to meet the demands of any project.”
Michail Zekkos, partner in the technology team, Permira, said, “Exclusive Group’s unrivalled focus and commitment to cyber and cloud is very exciting and we are delighted to partner with the company. We believe that enterprise cloud and cybersecurity will continue to rapidly converge, creating a tremendous market opportunity for the company to enable that transition while positioning its channel partners at its forefront. Preserving the entrepreneurial spirit and independence of the business while continuing to innovate with speed and at scale will be key to executing on its next phase of growth.”
