Mike Rohleder to head Wyle Electronics

Electronic News, August 11, 1997 by Bernard Levine

Irvine, Calif.--Michael Rohleder, who had been president of Raab Karcher North America, dropped that post last week to become president/CEO of Wyle Electronics, it was learned. He succeeds Ralph Ozorkiewicz, who indicated several months ago he planned to relinquish those Wyle posts for health reasons. The switch came shortly after Germany's Raab Karcher AG completed its cash tender offer for Wyle Electronics, with over 96 percent of the outstanding shares tendered and accepted for payment.

When the deal for Raab Karcher to acquire Wyle first surfaced in July, Raab Karcher emphasized that Wyle would remain autonomous from its other U.S. distribution holdings, Insight and EBV Electronics, a stance industry sources said was aimed at preventing any possible shelf sharing and linecard disputes. Both Insight and EBV report to Raab Karcher North America, which had been headed by Mr. Rohleder since he recently gave up the Insight presidency. Greg Provenzano, who recently replaced Mr. Rohleder as Insight president/CEO, confirmed last week that Mr. Rohleder had given up the presidency of Raab Karcher North America to become Wyle president/CEO.

Mr. Provenzano said he could not comment further last week on the exact future plans for structuring Raab Karcher North America, but that Insight will be reporting in to Karcher's Memec organization in the U.K., and the Wyle organization will separately and autonomously report to Raab Karcher AG in Europe.

Industry veteran Charles Clough, who had been Wyle chairman, said last week "I hope to play a role" in the new Wyle, but it "hasn't been defined" yet. He noted he recently met Mr. Rohleder for the first time and "I was impressed. He is exactly what is required at Wyle, extremely personable, and semiconductor-oriented, with a technical background. He is quite good, steeped in marketing and sales. He will do an excellent job in stimulating the sales force. I am very pleased."

Last week's moves came shortly after Raab Karcher AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of VEBA AG, said last Wednesday that its wholly owned subsidiary EBV Electronics Inc. has successfully completed the previously announced all-cash tender offer for all of the outstanding common shares of Wyle Electronics at a price of $50 per share. The offer expired at 12:00 midnight (EDT) on Tuesday, August 5. Based on a preliminary count, 11,771,604 shares, representing approximately 96.2% of the outstanding shares of Wyle (on a fully diluted basis), were tendered and have been accepted for payment in accordance with the terms of the offer; 782,453 shares were tendered by guaranteed delivery and approximately 463,996 shares remain outstanding.

"With the successful completion of the tender offer, we can begin to capitalize on the complementary strengths and enhanced market position of the two organizations, providing suppliers and U.S. customers with increased global reach," said Georg Kulenkampff, CEO of Raab Karcher AG. "We are extremely pleased that this transaction has been highly welcomed by customers, suppliers and the entire Wyle organization," he added.

The partnership of Wyle and Raab Karcher creates the third largest global distributor of electronic components after Arrow and Avnet. As soon as practicable, EBV Electronics Inc. will merge with and into Wyle and each share not previously purchased in the tender offer (other than shares held by shareholders who exercise appraisal rights) will be converted into the right to receive $50 in cash.

Raab Karcher is a European-based distribution and services group, with worldwide activities. In 1996, Raab Karcher generated revenue of $7.0 billion with a total of approximately 29,000 employees. In distribution of electronic components and computer systems, Raab Karcher serves as the holding company for its subsidiaries EBV, Memec, Insight and Raab Karcher Electronic Systems, which in 1996 reported aggregate sales of $1.7 billion. Raab Karcher is a wholly owned subsidiary of VEBA AG, the fourth largest company in Germany. With 1996 consolidated sales of approximately $50 billion and a current market capitalization of approximately $28 billion, the VEBA Group counts as one of the largest industrial groups in Europe.