DCC is to sell its enterprise distribution business Altimate to Arrow Electronics in a deal worth €48 million.

Altimate, which sells data management, security and virtualisation software, servers and storage products, generated operating profits of €3.7 million in the year ended March 31st 2011. Its customers are usually large and medium sized firms, mainly based in France, Iberia, Benelux and Britain.

Arrow Electronics, which provides products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions, will pay €41 million in cash for the firm, and take on a further €7.1 million of Altimate's deferred consideration obligations.

DCC chief executive Tommy Breensaid the sale was in keeping with the group's strategy to concentrate DCC SerCom's distribution activities on its retail and reseller business.

The deal must be approved by the competition regulators, and is expected to result in a non-cash exceptional loss for DCC of about €8 million.