Established in 1996, when Farnell acquired the US Premier Electronics group, whose subsidiary was Newark Electronics, Premier Farnell has since encountered a few stormy times along the way, as well as several enforced changes in its leadership.
There has been speculation about its future over the last couple of years. Speaking to New Electronics in 2015, Mark Larson, who was president of Digi-Key for 39 years, noted ‘vulnerability’ in the high service sector. In particular, he saw two of the four leaders in the sector as potential acquisition targets – and those two were both UK based companies. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see it happen in the next couple of years,” he said
Whether that’s ‘one down, one to go’ remains to be seen.
One issue which troubled some observers was the lack of brand identity; it was Farnell element 14 in some areas, element 14 in others, Newark in the US and so on.
Identity may not be an issue in the future; Datwyler could well impose its brand. What remains to be seen is just how much of the Premier Farnell organisation survives; Datwyler has already intimated that rationalisation is on the cards.
But, at least on first sight, the ‘marriage’ appears to be between complementary companies. While Premier Farnell has significant interest in electronic components distribution, Datwyler’s roots are more in the machinery repair and overhaul – MRO.
