Ingram Micro Unloads Commerce & Lifecycle Services In $3B Deal

The deal with France-based CMA CGM will give Ingram Micro and Platinum Equity, its private equity owner after acquiring the distributor this year for $7.2 billion, a big $3-billion war chest for further acquisitions and investments into its core technology business.

Ingram Micro, fresh from being acquired by Platinum Equity in a $7.2-billion deal, is selling a big chunk of its Commerce & Lifecycle Services business to France-based CMA CGM Group in a deal valued at $3 billion.

CMA CGM Wednesday unveiled the acquisition of the shipwire and the technology forward logistics business of Ingram Micro‘s Commerce & Lifecycle Services business, including operations in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.

An Ingram Micro spokesperson said the distributor will retain the ITAD asset disposition, the reverse logistics, and the European CLS Technology parts of the CLS business. Those parts will remain under their current leadership.

[Related: 5 Things To Know About Ingram Micro’s Acquisition By Platinum Equity]

This new deal comes just five months after Ingram Micro was purchased by private equity company Platinum Equity in a huge $7.2 billion deal. That deal, which closed in July, was the largest private equity investment in IT distribution.

Marseille, France-based CMA CGM is a leading provider of global shipping and logistics. The company plans to make the business it acquires from Ingram Micro a part of its CEVA Logistics subsidiary, which the company said will become the world‘s fourth-largest global contract logistics provider.

CMA CGM did not respond to a CRN request for more information by publication time.

The Ingram Micro spokesperson told CRN via email that the deal will allow Ingram Micro to focus on the growth and expansion of its core technology distribution and Ingram Micro Cloud and Cloud Blue businesses.

Ingram Micro will continue to invest in growing those businesses organically and through prospective acquisitions, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson cited the acquisition earlier this week of its acquisition of BRLink, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based MSP.

Ingram Micro in October also acquired CloudLogic, a cloud data center consulting company.

The deal between Ingram Micro and CMA CGM comes at the end of a big year in distribution M&A. In addition to Platinum Equity‘s monster acquisition of Ingram Micro, the year also saw the merger of Tech Data and Synnex to form TD Synnex, the world’s largest IT distributor. That title was held for decades by Ingram Micro.

In a prepared statement, Jacob Kotzubei, a partner at Platinum Equity, and Matthew Louie, managing director at Platinum Equity, said they believe CLS is an excellent fit with CEVA Logistics.

“This move allows Ingram Micro to focus on the growth and expansion of its core technology distribution and cloud services capabilities. We will continue to invest in growing those businesses organically and through prospective acquisitions,” Kotzubei and Louie said in the statement.