Datatec Limited, also known as Datatec Group, is an international ICT solutions and services group operating in more than 50 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. Through three core divisions, the group offers integration and managed services (Logicalis International and Logicalis Latin America) and technology distribution and financial services (Westcon International).

History

Datatec was founded in 1986 by Jens Montanana, who became the company's first CEO. The company's shares started trading on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

in December 1994, with a share code of DTC. In 1996, Datatec launched a joint venture with

UUNET UUNET Technologies, Inc., formerly UUNET Communications Services, was an American commercial Internet service provider. Founded in 1987, it was one of the first and largest commercial ISPs and one of the early Tier 1 networks. It was based in ...

to form UUNET Africa, an internet service provider. In 1997, the company began its international expansion and acquired UK-based IT firm Logical Networks which later changed its name to Logicalis. In June 1998, Datatec acquired a 92.5% stake in US distributor Westcon for $160 million. The company then consolidated its five-continent distribution business under the Westcon brand. In 1999, Datatec acquired communications consultancy Mason Communications. In November 2000, the company announced it was selling its stake in UUNET Africa to WorldCom. In 2004, Datatec acquired UK-based telecommunications research and consultancy firm Analysys for £12.8 million. Analysys was merged with Mason Communications, and the new company was renamed Analysys Mason Group (AMG). In October 2006, the company was listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. In May 2014, the company spun off Mason Advisory from Analysys Mason to focus on IT, cloud, security, and mobile technology consulting. In June 2017, Datatec announced it was selling the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

operations of Westcon-Comstor, along with 10% of the remaining part of Westcon (Westcon International), to

Fremont, CA Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Fr ...

-based IT supply chain services company

Synnex Synnex was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services to businesses. It merged with competitor Tech Data to form TD Synnex. It was founded in 1980 by Robert T. Huang and based in Fremont, Calif ...

, for a reported consideration of up to $830 million. In October 2017, Datatec announced they were planning to delist their secondary listing on the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

AIM market on December 8 of that year due to the limited liquidity of the shares on AIM. In May 2018, Logicalis Group, a subsidiary of Datatec, signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the issued share capital of Coasin, a Chilean ICT services provider that also operates in Peru. In August 2020, Datatec announced that its subsidiary Logicalis Latin America had acquired a 30% stake in Brazilian Kumulus. In June 2021, Logicalis Group acquired Siticom, a 5G integrator based in Germany. In July 2022, the business disposed of its management consulting subsidiary, Analysys Mason, for £210m (R4.12bn) to UK fund manager Bridgepoint Development Capital.

Companies

Datatec's companies have three main divisions:

IT managed services

*Logicalis – an information and communications technology infrastructure and service provider.

Financial services

*Datatec Financial Services – a financial services provider for customers and suppliers of Logicalis and Westcon-Comstor.

References

{{Witwatersrand companies Information technology companies of South Africa Companies based in Johannesburg