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Jens Montanana has added another European business to the empire he started building in Johannesburg four decades ago.
Datatec Limited, the JSE-listed tech group Montanana founded in 1986 and still leads as chief executive officer, announced March 25 that its subsidiary Logicalis Germany has acquired 100% of the share capital of NetworkedAssets, a specialist in software development, network automation, and observability solutions with offices in Berlin and Wroclaw, Poland. The transaction became effective March 24. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal marks Datatec's entry into Poland and deepens its footprint across continental Europe at a time when the group has been on a deliberate acquisition run. Earlier this year, Logicalis USA picked up Maple Woods Enterprises, a cybersecurity specialist originally built to meet U.S. defense industry standards. Weeks before that, Datatec's Westcon-Comstor division moved into the Balkans with the purchase of REAL Security, a Slovenian cybersecurity distributor.
NetworkedAssets is not a cold introduction. Logicalis Germany and the Berlin-based firm have worked together as partners for several years, delivering services to shared customers. That history made the deal a logical next step rather than a leap into the unknown.
"The transaction builds on a successful existing relationship, extends Logicalis' footprint into Poland and adds valuable engineering expertise to our European operations," Montanana said in a statement.
What Datatec gets from the deal goes beyond geography. NetworkedAssets brings engineering capability tailored to large-scale carrier, data center and cloud environments, areas where complexity is climbing and where Logicalis Germany's existing network and cloud expertise will now have deeper technical backing. The combined operation, Datatec said, will be better positioned to help clients automate and manage increasingly intricate IT infrastructure.
Poland is also not an incidental choice. The country has become one of Europe's busiest technology hubs in recent years, with a strong pipeline of engineering talent and growing demand from multinational companies that have shifted operations there. A local presence in Wroclaw, a city that has attracted significant tech investment, gives Logicalis Germany a credible base for future growth in the region.
Datatec operates across more than 50 countries through two core divisions: Westcon International, which handles technology distribution, and Logicalis International, which provides managed services and IT integration across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The group carries a market capitalization of roughly R16 billion (about $941 million) on the JSE.
Montanana has steered Datatec through a long string of acquisitions since taking the company to market in 1994, and the NetworkedAssets deal fits a pattern he has returned to repeatedly: buy businesses with established relationships, specialist skills and growth potential in markets where Datatec already has a presence or wants one.
The company said it expects the acquisition to strengthen its ability to support clients navigating the shift toward highly automated, cloud-driven infrastructure.
