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Logicalis on the hunt with R2.3bn war chest

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 07 Feb 2020
Frikkie Grobler, CEO of Logicalis SA.
Frikkie Grobler, CEO of Logicalis SA.

Armed with a $155 million (R2.3 billion) war chest, Datatec subsidiary Logicalis is looking to make some acquisitions.

This week, the JSE-listed Datatec announced the successful closing of $155 million new banking facilities for Logicalis.

It said this new senior facility covers Logicalis’s operations throughout the world, excluding Latin America. It will be used to fund working capital requirements and includes a new acquisition credit line.

Datatec says it intends to continue to develop Logicalis globally through organic growth and acquisition activities.

The company has been on a shopping spree recently. In September last year, Logicalis purchased a 70% interest in Cilnet, a Cisco systems integrator and managed services business in Portugal.

In addition, Logicalis Germany acquired Orange Networks, a Microsoft services business focused on Microsoft cloud and managed services.

In July 2019, it acquired Mars Technologies, an IT services business, with offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Durban and East London, employing 76 staff.

“Our strategy has always been to enter the South African market through acquisition and then grow organically,” Frikkie Grobler, CEO of Logicalis SA, tells ITWeb via e-mail.

“With the acquisitions we have made over the past two years, we now have the footprint and solutions to compete in the South African market. We want to be seen as ‘Architects of Change’ in the local market. We will achieve this by adding value to our customers’ businesses through our solutions.”

This week, Logicalis announced “a significant evolution to its brand positioning”.

According to the company, the refreshed positioning is the latest development in Logicalis’s ongoing transformation of evolving beyond an IT integrator to a strategic consultative partner, accelerating its customers’ progress, keeping them relevant in the digital economy and directly contributing to their success.

It says “Architects of Change” brand repositioning was developed through a collaborative process, with input from internal and external stakeholders from across the business, to understand and re-define Logicalis's purpose, proposition, behaviours and personality.

“We aim to not only be measured by achieving an SLA [service level agreement] but also the value we add to the business. This could be through enhancing productivity, cost savings, growing market share, etc,” says Grobler.

Logicalis SA is constantly looking at investment opportunities in the country, he notes.

“Investment is not only done through acquisition but also through investment in key resources. It is of utmost importance to attract the correct talent and culture to enable us to deliver on the market demand.

“Acquisitions will be done as required in specific areas of the business (niche companies) to complement or enhance the service offerings of Logicalis South Africa. There is a drive to grow our regional offices and deliver more remote services (shared services) form our regions and not only from Cape Town.”

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