Johannesburg, 02 Nov 2018
From 1 November 2018, the South African distribution channel landscape will have gone through a very important change, with the Partner Tech Group having agreed to purchase COREX outright and incorporate it into the group, now officially owning 100% of the local specialist ICT distributor. This transaction will see COREX becoming a full-fledged subsidiary of the Partner Tech Group.
Partner Tech Group is a 70%-owned subsidiary of the larger international powerhouse conglomerate that is the Qisda/BenQ/AUO Group, which has revenues in excess of US $25 billion annually.
The Qisda/BenQ/AUO Group is an industrial giant with services that encompass ODM/OEM in the fields of medical and medical electronics, display technologies, imaging and scanning, industrial computing, robotics and lighting.
Innovative design capabilities allow the group to contribute to the diverse and customised products of the 5Cs: computers, communications, consumer electronics, car infotainment and care.
The group operates in over 80 countries with products available in more than 100 countries, and employs over 100 000 people globally. "Partner Tech is extremely excited to have COREX as part of our family," said Peter Chen, Chairman of Partner Tech. "This strategic acquisition is another step in our journey to build on our foundations as a major intelligent store technology player in South Africa and presents a powerful opportunity for Partner Tech to significantly expand our presence in the region. Together, we can seize any business opportunities that present themselves in the coming boom within the IOT and smart retailing sectors."
Since its inception, COREX has had a vision of leading the South African ICT distribution sector. Founder and CEO Mark Lu has grown the business from the ground up into a major player within the ICT distribution channel.
The initial growth intention was prolonged by a much-needed capital injection at inception. However, with a committed and dedicated team, COREX has still grown from strength to strength. "The local and global markets have had extremely interesting challenges of late, particularly over the past five years," said Lu.
"The precarious times we find ourselves in at present presents us with opportunities, but also poses serious threats to the industry, our economy, and thus our job market in South Africa," continued Lu. "The sentiments carried by this industry and, in fact, all industries, rings true and our present finance minister put it quite eloquently with a quote from 'A Tale of Two Cities': 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.'"
COREX has grown from humble beginnings within the component distribution space and grown beyond that into the specialised distributor it is today, with a powerful portfolio encompassing networking, servers, storage, IOT and cloud. With this acquisition in place, COREX is now able to leverage the resources available within the group to further execute its planning and strategies and continue its steady march to becoming the leading specialised ICT distributor.
"COREX echoes Partner Tech's sentiment and we are excited to be a part of the Partner Tech family and look forward to an exciting future of growth and prosperity." This foundation of growth has proven to be appealing to the Partner Tech Group, which has set a firm vision on building into Africa. With COREX as part of the group, Partner Tech now has an extremely firm footing within the African continent, providing the opportunity for Partner Tech on the continent and allowing for the expedited future growth of COREX in South Africa and into Africa.
Lu will be retained as the CEO of COREX on a five-year management agreement, and will continue to run COREX, and the current Partner Tech Africa division will be amalgamated under the COREX structure, as Partner Tech Africa also recently underwent acquisition by the Partner Tech Group.
Lu said: "The combination of the current COREX expertise, backed by the might of the Partner Tech and Qisda groups, will undoubtedly fast-track the road to fulfilling our vision in South Africa and across the continent. We look forward to the prosperity that this new chapter will bring."
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