Avnet buys EU distributor, boosts embedded presence

Harley Feldberg (pictured), Avnet's president of electronics marketing, said the addition of the MSC Group was a 'strong fit' with the company's strategy to expand its existing design and supply chain services. "With extensive engineering resources and a strong focus on design-in services, the MSC Group has built a solid reputation as a single source for complete solutions serving customers in the European industrial electronics market," he noted. "By leveraging the combined skills of both organisations, we will be well positioned to better serve the needs of our customer base in the region." Founded in 1979, MSC Group generated revenue in excess of $450million in 2012. Embedded technology, including display solutions, accounted for almost 50% of its sales. Patrick Zammit, president of electronics marketing EMEA, at Avnet, commented: "MSC Group's distribution portfolio is a complementary fit with our core business that improves our offerings in microcontrollers, memory, programmable logic, opto and led products. "The embedded computing and display solutions businesses enhance our competencies in systems level solutions, thereby increasing our value add with customers in these higher growth product segments."