Westlake Village, Calif. - Oct. 12, 2000 - Need2Buy, an online marketplace for the electronic components industry, announced its acquisition of Unimate Electronics GmbH, a Munich, Germany-based component trading and fulfillment company.
With the strategic acquisition, Need2Buy hopes to gain the operations infrastructure, region-specific expertise and extensive customer relationships to expand the company's push into the European market.
Since being established in 1991, Unimate has developed a substantial customer base of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract electronics manufacturers (CEMs) and distributors in the automotive, avionic, computer, industrial automation, medical and telecommunications industries.
"The acquisition of Unimate will enable us to deliver a global, comprehensive supply chain solution and assist all participants in the European component market with their sourcing and distribution activities," said Maury S. Friedman, Need2Buy's chairman and CEO. "Unimate's established relationships with major OEMs and CEMs will provide us with the invaluable customer insight needed to effectively anticipate and address region-specific needs."
"Our experienced personnel and regional capabilities will complement Need2Buy's deep supply chain expertise and technical knowledge," said Baruch Gruengras, Unimate's founder and CEO. "We are excited to join Need2Buy and look forward to helping to build a[n] innovative e-commerce solution for Europe."
The Unimate acquisition builds upon continued momentum in Need2Buy's global expansion program. Earlier this year, the company established its European headquarters Munich, and announced a joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation to develop Need2Buy-Asia, a comprehensive e-commerce solution for component sourcing and distribution throughout the Far East.
