Getronics

In 1887, the company was created as N.V. Groeneveld, van der Poll & Co's Electrotechnische Fabriek Amsterdam. (GVPC) The enterprise was involved with electrical installations, such as monitoring and control of public facilities and shipping.[11]

After the World War II GVPC set up a technical sales office Groenpol as a separate entity.

In 1950, the holding company GVPC changed its name to Groenpol NV.

In 1965 the distribution division became Groenpol Industrial Sales.

In 1968, Groenpol NV merged with another listed company, Geveke SA. The new name was Geveke & Groenpol NV. In 1970, SHV brought the holding company.

In 1972, Groenpol Industrial Sales made a partial takeover of the technical trading Merchant & Co, the company started sales and service of computer peripherals. Meanwhile, the company also had offices in Belgium, France and Germany. In the same year the name was changed to Geveke Electronics.

In 1985 under the name 'Geveke Electronics' the company was introduced on the Amsterdam stock exchange.

In 1988, its name changed to Getronics NV. Getronics was traded by the AMX index abbreviation 23dGET. The main focus of the company became computer networking and maintenance.

In 1999, Getronics acquired Wang Global (who had recently acquired Olsy, the service arm of Olivetti) for 3.7 billion guilders. Wang Global, based in the United States, was active in 42 countries, which made Getronics a global player. This was strategically advantageous for working with Getronics' international customers.[12]

PinkRoccade was founded as Roccade (RCC) in 1950 providing punched card services for the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. In 1993, RCC took over Bouwfonds Informatica and merged with Pink Elephant and becoming PinkRoccade.[13][14][15] In 2003, PinkRoccade had 8700 employees. After two rounds of redundancies the number was reduced to 7,000 (a thousand of which where based in the United Kingdom).[16]

In 2005, before the acquisition by Getronics, the Dutch State had an interest of 25.8% in PinkRoccade.[13] On March 14, Getronics completed the acquisition of PinkRoccade. Getronics paid a total of €355 million in cash.[17][16] With the acquisition, it became the largest IT service company in the Netherlands under the name Getronics PinkRoccade.

On October 13, 2008, the name was shortened from Getronics PinkRoccade to Getronics. On June 29, 2005, a stock exchange reverse stock split of 7 to 1 took place.

In early 2007, Getronics had approximately 24,000 employees in more than 25 countries. Around the beginning of July 2007 several companies started to look into taking over Getronics including KPN, Capgemini[18] and an unnamed American private equity firm.[19] On July 30, KPN made a bid of 766 million euros. The acquisition of Getronics was confirmed on October 15, 2007 by KPN.[20][21] Getronics was no longer listed on Euronext after December 12, 2007.[22]

In June 2008, Getronics announced that its US operations (formerly Wang) to CompuCom for cash and a minority stake in CompuCom. These activities include operations in Canada the United States and in Mexico.[23]

On December 1st, 2008 the sale of the business unit Business Application Services (BAS) was completed at Capgemini. The sale included 2,300 employees and customer base of BAS. Capgemini paid 255 million euros. Business Solutions, the last remaining unsold part of Business Application Services (BAS), consisting of 800 employees who were engaged in local government and healthcare sector found refuge with Total Specific Solutions which had previously Everest in the year taken from Getronics.[24]

The part that dealt Microsoft and .NET development came into the hands of Delaware Consultancy.[25]

On March 31 2009, the parent company announced a shrinkage of staff to 1,400 employees.[26][27]

On June 17, 2011, Getronics CEO announced a further contraction of 2,500 jobs. Partly by offshoring, but also because disappointing results made it necessary that there should occur a reduction of jobs in the Netherlands within 18 months. On August 30, 2011, it was announced that 400 underperforming employees would lose there positions.[28]

On October 1st, 2011, the name Getronics is less well known in the Netherlands.[29] The Dutch activities of Getronics first went under the name KPN Corporate Market, and from January 1, 2013 under the name KPN IT Solutions'. For international business the name Getronics has remained in place, including in Belgium under the name Getronics UK Limited.[30]

Getronics Europe and APAC, Europe and Asia-Pacific , in 2011, achieved a turnover of approximately EUR 450 million with about 2900 FTEs. Getronics LATAM, Latin American, realized in 2011 a turnover of around 115 million euros with around 2,000 FTE’s.[31]

The Dutch activities of Getronics first went under the name KPN Corporate Market,[32] and from January 1, 2013 under the name 'KPN IT Solutions'.[33] For international business the name Getronics has remained in place.

In 2012, KPN sold a majority stake of Getronics Europe and APAC to the Aurelius Group, a German publicly listed industrial holding company. KPN sold Getronics LATAM businesses to OpenGate Capital, a global private equity firm.[4]

In June 2015, the remaining share KPN owned in Getronics Europe and APAC where sold to the Aurelius Group.[34] In November, Getronic won a five year IT services contract from automotive services company RAC Limited.[35]

In 2017, Getronics Group (with both Connectis and Getronics brands) was acquired by strategic investor Bottega InvestCo S.à r.l. The majority shareholder of Bottega is the US/Brazilian entrepreneur Nana Baffour, who operates in the IT services market through Grupo Cimcorp in Brazil; prestigious financing partners include White Oak Global Advisors, Permira PDM and H.I.G. WhiteHorse.[36]

In 2018, the Getronics Group announced its expansion to North America after acquiring U.S. based company, Pomeroy. The acquisition of Pomeroy was supported by a USD815 million financing and recapitalization transaction.[37][38][39]