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 typically large- and medium-sized firms, mainly based in France, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries 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 will take on a further €7.1 million of Altimate’s deferred consideration obligations.

DCC chief executive Tommy Breen said 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.