Source: CRN | Author: Steven Burke | Publication date: September 17, 2026
“This is a formidable new global competitor that we are all going to have to deal with,” said a U.S.-based SP 500 CEO, who did not want to be identified. “Hats off to Softcat for getting ahead of what is sure to be a new era of global competition as customers look for global scale and support for AI adoption and implementation.”
GDT CEO Shawn O’Grady said the blockbuster $1.05 billion “enterprise value” transatlantic deal, under which No. 1 solution provider Softcat acquired GDT, underscores the importance of “scale” in the AI era.
“Scale matters,” said O’Grady, who has now helped complete four successful solution provider exits over the course of his 41-year channel career. “The bar continues to be raised. If you don’t have the scale it’s hard to have the resources that you need in order to be considered a viable player. That is where scale really comes in. Scale gives you credibility.”
The combined Softcat, the U.K.’s number one solution provider for the last three years, and GDT, No. 56 on the 2026 CRN SP 500, creates a formidable new $4 billion-plus global channel powerhouse with approximately 4,000 employees and broad vendor reach with Cisco, Nvidia, HPE, Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
H.I.G. Capital, the majority owner of GDT, said the deal has an enterprise value of $1.05 billion. Enterprise value represents the total value of the business being acquired, including debt and excluding cash.
GDT will retain its name, leadership team and workforce, operating as a wholly owned Softcat subsidiary.
O’Grady said he expects GDT to grow “much faster” under Softcat’s ownership. “Part of that is because they are managing to a different outcome than private equity would manage to,” he said. “They are taking the long-term view.”
O’Grady said the “cultural match” was the key to completing the deal with Softcat. “Both GDT and Softcat firmly believe that it all starts with the employees,” he said. “Because if you start with the employees then the customer gets taken care of. If the customer is taken care of, the investor gets taken care of.”
O’Grady said he stayed with each of the acquiring companies for four or five years during his prior solution provider sales and expects to do the same with Softcat.
Both O’Grady and Softcat Executive Director and CEO Graham Charlton both addressed employees in respective videos in the U.S. and U.K. after the deal was completed at 11:15 a.m. CST.
In Charlton’s video, the message was that he was “extremely excited” about the GDT acquisition. He informed employees that the company was looking for years to make the right acquisition.
“His message was they had been looking at this for years and decided GDT was the right company,” said O’Grady. “He wanted to send a message to the U.S. This is the company we wanted. We got them. We don’t want to change you. We bought you for who you are!”
As for O’Grady’s message to the United Kingdom employees: “We also have an employee-first culture! You’re going like our people! I told them we are proud of what we have accomplished but we are in a $1 trillion market in North America! We have $1.5 billion of a $1 trillion market. The future is unlimited. We are hungry to get more than our fair share. We are really confident working together with Softcat we are going to get it!”
O’Grady said that he expects to see continued consolidation in the market. “It’s because of the complexity and the level of expertise that you need to have to compete,” he said of the increased M&A activity. “You’ve got to have scale in order to really be able to compete for high-quality deals.”
