Softcat has agreed to acquire US technology solutions provider GDT for an enterprise value of $1.05bn (£785m), giving the UK-listed group a substantially larger presence in North America and extending its capabilities across data centres, networking, AI infrastructure, and cybersecurity.
The transaction represents a significant step up in scale for the Marlow-headquartered IT infrastructure and services company. GDT, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Dallas, serves approximately 700 upper-mid-market and enterprise customers and works with more than 1,000 technology vendors. Its capabilities span hybrid cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, collaboration, technology procurement, and managed services.
Softcat said the acquisition would strengthen its ability to support multinational customers whose technology requirements extend beyond the UK and Ireland. The company has been building its US presence organically for several years, but demand from existing customers for broader international fulfilment has increased as projects have become larger and more complex.
Chief executive Graham Charlton said the transaction “significantly accelerates our capability in the US”. GDT’s management team, led by chair and chief executive Shawn O’Grady, is expected to remain in place following completion.
The acquisition will be funded through a combination of £100m of balance-sheet cash, £550m of new debt facilities, and £350m of proceeds from an equity placing. The debt package comprises a £450m revolving credit facility and a £100m term loan, while Softcat has also announced a separate retail offer for eligible UK investors.
The scale of the financing changes Softcat’s capital structure materially. The group expects net debt leverage to rise to 1.3 times following completion, compared with a net cash position at the end of the 2026 financial year, before falling below one times by the end of 2028.
GDT is expected to generate around $240m of gross profit and approximately $80m of EBITDA for the 12 months ending December 2026. Softcat expects the transaction to deliver high-single-digit to low-double-digit underlying earnings-per-share accretion in the first full financial year after completion.
Completion is expected by the end of the first quarter of calendar 2027, subject to regulatory and other customary conditions. The transaction agreement includes an outside date of 30 June 2027.
The deal arrives as Softcat is also raising expectations for its existing business. Following broad-based fourth-quarter growth across technology areas and customer segments, the board now expects underlying operating profit for the 2026 financial year to increase at a high-teens rate, compared with previous guidance for mid-teens growth. Cash conversion is expected towards the upper end of its 85%-95% guidance range.
Excluding any contribution from GDT, Softcat is forecasting high-single-digit underlying operating profit growth in the 2027 financial year. Its preliminary full-year results are due on 14 October.
The acquisition places Softcat within a wider pattern of technology transactions in which buyers are paying for customer reach, specialist capability, infrastructure expertise, and access to fast-growing areas of enterprise spending. UK deal activity during August similarly concentrated capital around businesses where scale, infrastructure, and embedded customer relationships would be difficult to reproduce organically.
Corporate AI adoption is increasing demand not only for software but also for data-centre capacity, accelerated computing, networking, cybersecurity, storage, and integration. Multinational customers can also require consistent procurement, implementation, and support across several jurisdictions, raising the value of suppliers with established delivery infrastructure in more than one market.
GDT gives Softcat immediate US scale in those areas rather than requiring the group to build equivalent capability incrementally. The target also operates a Bengaluru platform with around 230 employees, adding engineering, service-delivery, and operational capacity outside North America.
The transaction nevertheless introduces a larger integration challenge than Softcat has previously undertaken. The group will need to combine sales teams, vendor relationships, delivery operations, and customer accounts while maintaining the employee culture and service standards both management teams have identified as central to the deal.
Debt reduction will run alongside that work. Softcat expects continued cash generation to bring leverage below one times by the end of 2028, making the pace of integration and GDT’s financial performance important to the return on the acquisition.
If completed on schedule, GDT will become Softcat’s largest step towards operating as a technology partner on both sides of the Atlantic, with materially greater exposure to the infrastructure investment accompanying AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and enterprise network modernisation.
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