Reselling is the one corner of IT services where headline revenue tells you almost nothing about what the business is worth. Value-added reseller revenue multiples look low because much of the turnover is pass-through product that carries little margin, so buyers value gross profit and the services attach rate rather than headline sales. Knowing where these businesses actually trade gives you the context to push back when a buyer anchors the first offer low. This page benchmarks the EV/Revenue and EV/EBITDA (enterprise value, the deal price adjusted for net debt) multiples value-added resellers change hands at, what drives the number, and who is buying. It is part of our IT services valuation multiples research.
Value-added resellers (VARs) sell hardware, software licenses and cloud subscriptions from vendors such as Cisco, Microsoft, Dell and HPE, and wrap configuration, integration, support and managed services around what they move. The value they add sits in the services and the vendor relationships rather than in the product itself, which is largely bought in and passed through to the customer.
The label covers a spectrum, and where a business sits on it drives the multiple. At one end are broadline distributors such as TD SYNNEX, Ingram Micro and ALSO, which sit at the top of a two-tier distribution model, selling to resellers rather than to end customers and running on the thinnest margins in IT, so they trade at the bottom of the revenue range. In the middle sit value-added distributors (VADs) focused on security and networking niches, which carry more technical services and earn wider gross margins. At the other end are VARs and solution providers that sell directly to end customers and layer on integration, managed services and recurring software. The closer a business is to that services-led end, the higher up the range it lands, which is a large part of why the EV/Revenue spread is so wide.
A large reseller or distributor can post substantial revenue on thin economics, and the multiple reflects that.
Across disclosed acquisitions between 2015 and 2025, value-added resellers changed hands at a median of about 0.5x revenue and 8.1x EBITDA. EV/EBITDA is the more reliable gauge in this sector, because it prices the profit a reseller keeps rather than the product volume it passes through.
How much do value-added resellers sell for
Enterprise-value multiples for disclosed value-added reseller acquisitions between 2015 and 2025. The median is the typical outcome, and the quartile range shows the spread. At the median, a reseller with $5 million of EBITDA would be worth about $41 million, and note the EV/Revenue multiple stays low because most of that revenue is pass-through product.
| Multiple | Deals (n) | 1st Quartile | Median | 3rd Quartile | Median deal size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV/Revenue | 72 | 0.2x | 0.5x | 1.3x | $48M |
| EV/EBITDA | 49 | 6.7x | 8.1x | 11.5x | $49M |
Source: Mergermarket and the Aventis Advisors deal database. Disclosed enterprise-value multiples only, 2015 to 2025. Figures are directional where the disclosed sample is small.
How to read the table: the first quartile (Q1) is the multiple a quarter of the way up the distribution, the median is the midpoint, and the third quartile (Q3) is three quarters of the way up. Half of all deals fall between Q1 and Q3, so the wider that range, the more valuations vary within the sector, and the more growth, margins and recurring revenue decide where a business lands.
What drives a VAR valuation
Within the sector, the gap between the first and third quartile is large, and the spread is not random. A short list of factors explains most of why one business clears the top quartile while another lands at the bottom.
Gross profit, not headline revenue. Much of a reseller’s turnover is pass-through product that carries little margin, so buyers underwrite gross profit and the services attach rate rather than gross revenue. Two firms with identical sales can be valued very differently if one wraps higher-margin configuration, integration and support around the hardware and licenses it moves.
Vendor tier status and rebates. Top-tier accreditations with the major vendors bring better pricing, co-marketing funds and back-end rebates that fall straight to the bottom line. A gold or platinum partner position is difficult for a buyer to replicate quickly, so it supports a higher multiple than a reseller with volume but no tier standing.
Recurring software and subscription resale. Renewable software licenses, cloud subscriptions and maintenance contracts turn one-off product sales into a predictable annuity. The larger the share of revenue that renews on subscription, the more the business reads as a recurring-revenue asset and the further it moves above the sector median.
Customer stickiness and renewals. High renewal rates and long-tenured accounts that keep buying across refresh cycles de-risk the forecast. Buyers pay for an installed base that returns each year, and discount a reseller whose customers are won transaction by transaction.
Working-capital intensity. Reselling and, above all, distribution tie up cash in inventory and receivables, and thin margins make that working-capital swing material. It bites hardest for broadline distributors carrying large stock positions, and it is lighter for services-led and software-heavy resellers. A business that turns stock quickly and manages vendor and customer terms tightly converts more of its profit into cash, which supports both the multiple and the headline price.
Recent VAR deals
The biggest transactions in this space are distribution mergers rather than pure reseller deals. Tech Data acquired Avnet’s Technology Solutions business for about $2.6bn in 2016, and in 2021 SYNNEX and Tech Data combined in a roughly $7.2bn merger to form TD SYNNEX, the largest consolidation the sector has seen. Ingram Micro bought Brazil’s Grupo ACAO for $77M in 2015 and ALSO Holding acquired Slovenia’s DISS for $16M in 2018, both moves to extend distribution into new geographies. Closer to the reseller and maintenance end, Park Place Technologies acquired Curvature, a third-party maintenance and network hardware specialist, for an undisclosed sum in 2020.
Who is buying value-added resellers
The most active acquirers are distribution consolidators buying for purchasing power and reach, third-party maintenance roll-ups such as Park Place Technologies and Evernex, and specialist value-added distributors consolidating around security and networking niches. Private-equity backers are less prominent here than in the services lines, since reselling carries thinner margins and less recurring revenue. For the full buyer landscape, see who is buying value-added resellers, and for the wider sector, our IT services valuation multiples report.
Methodology
The data covers acquisitions of value-added resellers worldwide between 2015 and 2025, sourced from Mergermarket and the Aventis Advisors deal database of more than 125,000 transactions. Every figure is an enterprise-value multiple, which adjusts a deal’s headline price for net debt and partial stakes, so it reflects what the whole business was valued at. We report the median and the first and third quartiles rather than an average, which a handful of premium deals would distort. Most private deals close at undisclosed valuations, so the disclosed sample skews slightly toward larger transactions and listed buyers.
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Related reading
- IT services valuation multiples, the wider benchmark across every subsector.
- Who is buying value-added resellers, the most active acquirers and private equity investors.
- MSP Valuation Multiples and Systems Integration Valuation Multiples.
- How to sell an IT services business.
- Strategic vs financial buyers and M&A in IT services.
