Avnet has entered into an agreement to acquire Bell Microproducts in an all cash merger for $7.00 per share, which equates to an equity value of approximately $252 million and a transaction value of approximately $594 million assuming a net debt position for Bell of $342 million at face value as of December 31, 2009. The acquisition has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is subject to the approval of Bell's shareholders as well as customary regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in 60 to 120 days.

Founded in 1988, Bell, with sales of approximately $3.0 billion in calendar year 2009, is a distributor of storage and computing technology. With over 1,900 employees, the company offers a broad suite of integration and support services to OEMs, VARs, system builders and end users through 55 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America.

The Company, which operates both a distribution and single tier reseller business, offers a portfolio of storage, computing, software and networking products. In calendar year 2009, the single tier business represented approximately 15% of total sales while revenues from North America, EMEA and Latin America were 42%, 41% and 17% respectively.