Nexora sale hands Hammer and Almo to a reseller group’s owner

On 9 October 2026 DCC Energy agreed to sell Nexora, its technology distribution division, to funds managed or advised by One Equity Partners (OEP) at an enterprise value of $725m (£548m) on a cash-free, debt-free basis. The sale needs regulatory approvals and is expected to complete on or after 1 March 2027, according to the company’s stock exchange announcement.

Nexora is the name DCC gave its specialist distributors in December 2025, when it also retired the Exertis brand. The group includes Hammer in Europe, Comm-Tec in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Iberia, Captech in the Nordics, Azenn and Connect in France, and Almo and JAM in North America. Nexora says it runs 25 specialist businesses serving more than 60 countries. Together they turn over around £2.5bn and employ 2,000 staff, according to IT Channel Oxygen.

The sale completes the breakup of DCC Technology, the division whose businesses traded with resellers under the Exertis name. DCC sold the lower-margin Exertis IT business, which IT Channel Oxygen put at £2bn of revenue, to Aurelius in November 2025. What remained was the specialist half: pro audio-visual, storage and infrastructure, the lines that MSPs, resellers and integrators buy through Hammer, Comm-Tec, Captech, Almo and JAM.

That half now moves from a listed energy group that spent almost two years leaving technology to a private equity firm that already owns a reseller group of more than 1,000 staff. For the partners who buy through Nexora’s brands, the deal replaces an owner that wanted out with one under which Nexora says it will keep buying specialist brands, at expected net proceeds too low to earn DCC Energy shareholders the full extra payment agreed in its takeover.

A buyer that already owns a reseller

OEP describes itself as a middle-market private equity firm focused on industrial, healthcare and technology businesses in North America and Europe, with more than 500 transactions since 2001. It bought Trustmarque in 2022 and merged it with Ultima in 2025, creating an IT services group with more than 1,000 employees and over 3,000 customers, with Trustmarque based in York and Ultima in Reading. It has since taken a majority stake in Myriad360, a services-led global systems integrator, and said the investment would help the integrator pursue acquisitions.

Nexora said in a statement, reported by IT Channel Oxygen, that under OEP it will “maintain its strategy to acquire and accelerate specialist local trading brands”. Donal Murphy, chief executive of DCC Energy, said in the announcement: “We believe One Equity Partners is well placed to support Nexora’s continued growth, investment and long-term development, benefiting employees and customers alike.”

For an integrator buying pro AV through Almo or Comm-Tec, or a reseller sourcing storage through Hammer, the stated plan points to a distributor that grows by adding specialists in local markets. Under DCC, those brands belonged to a parent preparing to sell them; Clive Fitzharris, Nexora’s chief executive, told IT Channel Oxygen in May that buyers were showing healthy interest in the sale process.

Net proceeds below the full-payout mark

The price also produces an estimate for a payment inside the takeover of DCC Energy by Dragon Bidco, the vehicle owned by funds advised by KKR and Energy Capital Partners. DCC Energy shareholders are due 6,525p a share in cash, plus up to 125p more depending on what Nexora fetches. That extra payment rises on a straight line from zero, if net proceeds are $650m (£492m), to the full 125p at $800m (£605m) or more.

DCC Energy estimates net proceeds at $701m (£530m), assuming completion on 1 March 2027, which it says implies 42p a share, about a third of the maximum. The full payout needed $99m (£75m) more than the expected proceeds. If the conditions are not met by 31 July 2027, the extra payment is zero.

Fitzharris told IT Channel Oxygen in May that Nexora’s margins were twice those typical in IT distribution. Set against the outlet’s £2.5bn turnover figure, the $725m enterprise value is about 22% of a year’s sales.

Almost five months to completion

Until completion, Nexora remains part of DCC Energy, which is itself being taken over. DCC Energy said there can be no guarantee the sale completes, because it depends on customary regulatory approvals. The sale is structured as a share purchase agreement, so Hammer, Comm-Tec, Captech, Almo and JAM change owner along with the rest of Nexora. For vendors’ channel chiefs, the distributors they contract with in pro AV and storage across Europe and North America stay in place; the owner above them changes in March 2027 at the earliest.

When DCC launched the Nexora name in December 2025, Dan Smith, executive vice-president of Almo Pro AV, said vendors, integrators and resellers would see no change to their relationships with Almo Pro AV, as reported by AV Network. That assurance concerned a rebrand; the OEP sale is a change of owner with a stated plan to buy more brands, so the group partners buy from in 2027 is likely to be larger than the one they buy from today.

DCC’s broadline IT business left the group at £2bn of revenue as the lower-margin half. The specialist half, at around £2.5bn, has been valued at $725m by an owner that already holds a reseller group and a systems integrator, and whose new distributor says it will keep buying specialist brands.