by Robert Scott
Tempe, Ariz. — Fast-growing Tectura leapfrogged rivals with its acquisition of Aston Business Solutions in mid-August, making it the largest reseller of mid-market accounting software in a reseller market that has changed dramatically in the last two months.
The Tectura run rate will be “a nice, conservative $160 million a year,” said Tectura chief executive Terry Petrzelka, who has assembled the company rapidly through acquisitions over the past two years. Tectura will now employ more than 1,100 people. The deal shoots Tectura well ahead of ePartners, an Irving, Texas-based reseller, which hit a reported annual run rate of $74 million with its July purchase of EYT of Chantilly, Va.
Tectura and Aston sell products from Microsoft Business Solutions. Aston, a Great Plains and Navision reseller based in Denmark, moved into the United States in 2000 with the purchase of several Navision resellers, before Microsoft purchased Navision. Petrzelka declined to reveal the terms, but said that the deal was a stock purchase agreement.
Tectura had just moved into Europe with its June purchase of Cosmo Consult, a Navision reseller with 10 offices in Germany, a staff of 230 and revenue of more than $26 million a year. Petrzelka said that Tectura and Aston had only two overlapping offices, and product overlap in Axapta. Tectura sells Great Plains and Solomon.
Petrzelka said that his company should be able to compete effectively with local resellers even with its fast growth. “We have the ability to provide more skill sets than local VARs,” he said. In past VAR roll-ups, the management of suddenly larger firms hasn’t been able to handle the expanded company, said Petrzelka, who believes that Tectura can avoid that problem.
“Are we going to have integration issues? The answer is yes,” he said. “Will they be impactful to the Microsoft customer? The answer is no.”
