PC Mall Gov moves upstream with GMRI deal

PC Mall Gov Inc. of Chantilly, Va., has acquired Government Micro Resources Inc. in a move that company officials said will help it move into higher end products and services.

PC Mall Gov is paying $3.25 million for GMRI of Manassas, Va. GMRI pulled in about $43 million in the first eight months of 2006.

The acquisition will allow PC Mall Gov, a subsidiary of PC Mall Inc. of Torrance, Calif., to move into higher end products from companies such as Sun Microsystems Inc., IBM Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and Saba Software Inc.

"We are strong in the Wintel space, but we didn't have the higher end vendors," said Alan Bechara, PC Mall Gov's president. "We are a natural fit when you look at the two organizations."

There is very little overlap in the two companies' customer base, products and services, he said.


The acquisition is part of PC Mall's plan to expand its government business, which it launched about four years ago when Bechara was hired. That business has grown to about $100 million in revenue. With the pickup of GMRI, PC Mall Gov should double its revenue in the foreseeable future, Bechara said. He declined to give more specific revenue projections because his division is part of a publicly traded company.

PC Mall Gov is looking for more acquisitions, Bechara said.

"We need to keep broadening our product offerings as our customers needs broaden," he said. "What we are buying is people, contracts, vendor relationship and most importantly, customer relationships."

With the acquisition of GMRI, PC Mall Gov can bid on larger governmentwide task order contracts, which require a wide range of offerings, Bechara said.