Ingram Micro to Buy Majority Interest in Mexico’s Biggest Distributor of PCs

In its biggest international deal yet, Ingram Micro Inc. said Thursday that it will acquire a majority stake in Mexico’s largest domestic distributor of personal computer equipment.

The cost of the deal was not disclosed. Ingram, the world’s largest computer distributor, said it signed a letter of intent to buy a majority stake in Distribuidora de Computer S.A., known as Dicom.

“This is by far the largest international investment we’ve made,” said Linwood (Chip) Lacy, chief executive for Ingram Micro in Santa Ana. Dicom, based in Mexico City, expects sales of $110 million for 1992.

The acquisition, the largest of four for Ingram since 1989, positions Ingram and Dicom to benefit from the recently negotiated North American Free Trade Agreement, which seeks to bring down trade barriers dividing the United States, Canada and Mexico. The free trade agreement, which must still be ratified by Congress, could spur demand for computer products in Mexico, Ingram executives said.

“We would like NAFTA to go through, but it doesn’t change our opinion about the potential of the Mexican market, even if it doesn’t,” Lacy said.

A final deal is expected to be negotiated by year’s end, Lacy said. Ingram Micro is a privately held subsidiary of Ingram Industries, based in Nashville, Tenn.

Lacy said Dicom’s management team will keep a significant ownership interest and a say in the management of the new partnership, dubbed Ingram Dicom.

Dicom sells American computer brands such as Apple, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others. Jose Luis Rodriguez, president of Dicom, said the product offering will expand significantly with Ingram.