The M&A activity pace quickened with a pair of deals announced late last week and another this week, all involving dealers that have demonstrated an appetite for acquisition.
On Friday, Madison, Wisconsin-based Gordon Flesch Company (GFC) swung a deal to acquire Stan’s LPS Midwest, based in Woodstock, Illinois. RJ Young of Nashville, Tennessee, picked up Syndesi Solutions of Athens, Alabama, marking its third deal of 2022. And earlier this week, Novatech obtained Atlantic Business Systems in Melbourne, Florida.
In acquiring Stan’s LPS Midwest, GFC has added a family-owned provider of business technology services in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Like GFC, Stan’s LPS Midwest is a family-owned and operated independent office technology dealer. Stan’s was founded in 1960 by Stanley Steadman and continues to be led by his sons, Mark and Tony. Stan’s focus on regional service has led them to an excellent reputation of providing customers with the best products and service.
“Stan’s is known for their honesty, respect and care they give their customers,” says Patrick Flesch, president of GFC. “This acquisition will not only expand our geographical footprint in Illinois and Wisconsin but aligns perfectly with our company’s values. We are excited to welcome Stan’s into the GFC family.”
In addition to sharing a similar corporate culture and history, GFC and Stan’s represent some of the same manufacturers which will help facilitate seamless integration. The merged company will be known as the Gordon Flesch Company and will serve business customers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and South Dakota.
“We are proud of our legacy and reputation for high-quality service that we have built over the years at Stan’s LPS Midwest,” says Mark Steadman, president of Stan’s. “Joining the Gordon Flesch Company family is a natural fit and an exciting opportunity that allows us to continue building on that legacy.”
RJ Young-Syndesi Solutions
RJ Young, an industry-leading business technology solutions provider, announced its acquisition of Syndesi Solutions, an Athens, Alabama-based full-service IT group specializing in network security, cloud services, and IT infrastructure. Syndesi Solutions’ employees will join the 650 plus RJ Young team members. All operations, area offices, and team members will remain local.
The acquisition marks RJ Young’s third transaction in 2022 and eleventh in the past five years. The latter is part of the company’s aim to strengthen its managed IT services throughout the Southeast.
“For the past 14 years, Syndesi Solutions has strived to provide a high level of service to our customers,” said Syndesi Solutions’ vice president Paul Gibbs. “We are excited about teaming with RJ Young to continue providing exceptional service and technology solutions that power businesses in Alabama and the Southeast.”
Syndesi Solutions bridges the gap between business needs and the technology of today. Their technology expertise helped many clients plan, implement, maintain, upgrade, and protect their network systems. By offloading all IT tasks to Syndesi Solutions, clients stay productive and focused on making their core businesses thrive.
“Syndesi has built a reputation with their customers and vendors of delivering a customer experience and service excellence that is setting an industry standard in the Alabama market,” said RJ Young’s president and CEO Chip Crunk. “We look forward to joining forces to provide current and future customers across our footprint with top-in-class managed IT services.”
Since the launch of RJ Young’s technology vertical in 2019, the company has grown that side of the business by 360%. Last year, RJ Young introduced the Modern Office – the company’s concept of being a one-stop for technology solutions – in response to the market’s evolving needs amid workplace shifts initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, RJ Young has gone through a rebrand that speaks to the Modern Office, complete with a new website and logo.
Novatech-Atlantic Business Systems
Novatech, the nationwide Managed Office provider, and core portfolio company of Trivest Partners, a leading founder-friendly private investment firm, has announced the acquisition of Atlantic Business Systems (ABS), a Florida-based business technology provider specializing in managed IT, managed print, copiers and printers, and document management/security solutions.
The acquisition marks a pivotal move in Novatech’s reach and breadth of business solutions offered across the US, along with enhancing the company’s coverage in Florida where Novatech already has a strong customer base.
ABS was founded in 1994 and has built a strong legacy and reputation for making customer satisfaction their number one priority. Working with vendors like Sharp, Cisco, SonicWall, Microsoft, and Polycom and Dell, ABS is able to provide a true 360 offering of business technology solutions to the Florida business community.
Novatech Senior Leadership Weighs In
“The ABS business model complements the Novatech Managed Office perfectly, and our vision in helping customers across the United States bring everything up to speed,” said Dan Cooper, CEO of Novatech.
“ABS is an incredible addition to the Novatech family of businesses,” said Dave Moorman, president/CISO, of Novatech. “I’ve found the ABS employees and technology partners second to none. We’re extremely excited to leverage their skills, passion, knowledge, and technical capability.”
A Word from ABS Founder Barry Wallingford
“I picked Novatech to sell to because of their long-term vision, their tenured leadership team, and the synergies with the current ABS go-to-market approach and values,” said Barry Wallingford, ABS founder. “I knew this was a great opportunity for our employees, our customers, and our legacy.”
The Future is Bright!
The ABS leadership team will report to Dave Moorman, president and CISO at Novatech. ABS will maintain its own back-office infrastructure along with its current sales, service delivery and operations teams.
###
About the Gordon Flesch Company
The Gordon Flesch Company is one of the largest family-owned providers of office technology solutions in the nation. Family-owned since 1956, the Gordon Flesch Company employs more than 600 people throughout 31 offices in the Midwest, with their corporate office in Madison, Wisconsin. They deliver unique business process expertise to solve challenging problems and achieve organizational goals. This includes integrating industry-leading software and hardware to build custom solutions that are supported by technical expertise, customer service and flexible, in-house financial services.
About Stan’s LPS Midwest
At Stan’s, excellent customer service is more than the way they work, it’s an ongoing commitment to excellence. In addition to high-quality customer service, Stan’s staff is ingrained in technology. Technology is more than a business – it’s their passion! The team has worked in technology for generations, and we are committed to providing the best product solutions to all our customers.
Stan’s excels at providing customized service to our clients because they are a regional business that focuses on working with our customers to meet their unique needs. Stan’s provides friendly and fast support to get our clients on track toward meeting their business goals right away. Above all else, Stan’s staff prides themselves on having integrity. They work closely with businesses to understand their needs and find solutions that work for them.
About RJ Young
RJ Young is an industry leader that provides technology solutions that power businesses. RJ Young helps small to enterprise-level organizations transition into modern workplaces and increase productivity with comprehensive managed IT solutions, office equipment and technology, business process outsourcing and digital communications. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, RJ Young has been partnering with businesses since 1955 and has more than 650 team members in more than 30 sales and service locations across nine states.
About Novatech
Founded in 1998, Novatech Inc. is a nationwide business technology provider. The company eliminates the need for multiple managed service providers, hardware dealers and software integrators. Offering a full Managed Office portfolio, Novatech simplifies and streamlines the technology experience for today’s business.
About Trivest
Trivest Partners LP is a private investment firm that focuses exclusively on the support and growth of founder-led and family-owned businesses in the United States and Canada in both control and non-control transactions. Since its founding in 1981, Trivest has completed more than 350 transactions, totaling approximately $7 billion in value.
