Distributor Avnet Inc. said Tuesday it acquired a majority interest in distributor MSC Investoren GmbH as the first step of a two-part transaction in which Avnet will ultimately acquire the remainder of the company.
MSC is a European distributor focused on electronic component distribution, embedded computing technology and display solutions, as well as design and manufacturing.
In 2012, MSC generated revenue in excess of $450 million, with embedded computer technology—including display solutions—accounting for almost 50 percent of its sales, according to the company.
The operations of MSC Group will become part of the European business region of Avnet Electronics Marketing.
"MSC’s strength in systems level solutions expands our portfolio to address the increasingly complex needs of our customer base in the European industrial electronics market," said Patrick Zammit, president of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, in a statement.
MSC was founded in 1979 and has grown from a product distributor to a consultative partner for customers in the automotive, industrial automation, telecom, information systems and medical device markets, who have increasing requirements along the electronics value chain.
Avnet said the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and achieve the company's return on capital goal of 12.5 percent.
Avnet is one of the world's largest industrial distributors of electronic parts, enterprise computing and storage products and embedded subsystems. The company has completed more than 60 acquisitions in the past 20 years.
Earlier this year Avnet acquired RTI, a major distributor in China, which generated revenue of approximately $80 million in 2012.
Avnet now serves more than 100,000 customers around the world. For the fiscal year ended June 29, , Avnet generated revenue of $25.5 billion.
