The major German distributor Computer 2000 AG, Munich has been threatening to move into the US by acquisition, and now that the most obvious candidate, Gates/FA Distributing Inc, has gone elsewhere, it has decided to go for something smaller. Yesterday it said it wanted gradually to build up a 51% controlling stake in Ameriquest Technologies Inc, the disconcerting name that most people will have forgotten disguises the old CMS Enhancements Inc, which along with the change of name divested all its manufacturing and integration operations to become a pure distributor, with ambitions of its own to build by acquisition – indeed it has collected Robec Inc and Kenfil Inc since the change of name. Computer 2000 reckons the tie-up between the two will be one of the most important steps by Computer 2000 towards becoming a global player. Computer 2000 plans to spend around $50m acquiring Ameriquest shares in the next 12 months. Computer 2000 has annual turnover of around $3,200m and Ameriquest expects to do p 4.8 billion marks and Ameriquest is expecting to do $700m to $900m this year.
