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One of my favorite things at work to look at is our acquisitions database. I study it several times a year, oftentimes for a blog—like this one, in fact—or an inquiry call. Then I have conversation with a colleague or two to analyze the dataset. Given that consolidation remains an area of much intrigue and enables learning and strategy development in the process, it’s a no brainer that we keep the topic top of mind.
While we track acquisitions of all types, I’m most interested in studying the activity of dealers buying other dealers. And as you can see by our latest infographic, transactions of this type have fallen off by almost 50% since 2022—I still point the finger at inflation and interest rates over the last year or so playing a big role in the decrease.
That said, we’re still seeing solid action, and it’s not like small dealers are the only ones being purchased. With more capital at their disposal, mega dealers accounted for 11 of the 13 acquisitions of companies with at least $10 million in annual revenue. Over the three-year stretch we’re looking at here, the megas made 37 of the 111 total moves, with DEX leading the way at 10. Marco and UBEO acquired six dealers each. Novatech put another four on the board.
The story around dealers with less than $100 million in annual revenue is far more interesting because, let’s face it, there’s more risk involved and more is at stake. Just before the end of 2024, Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises purchased Ohio Business Machines, a Cleveland-based dealer in the $10-$20 million annual revenue range. Doceo Office Solutions has been expanding at a nice clip in the Mid-Atlantic Region, south of the Mason-Dixon Line particularly, thanks to three moves since 2022. And WiZiX (clearly one of the best dealer names in the industry) executed two acquisitions in the second half of last year.
Of course, there were plenty of transactions outside of the dealer-dealer realm. DEX Imaging is now in the hands of Gamut Capital Management (private equity) and the Doyle family, while Novatech was acquired by Perpetual Capital Partners (family office). On the OEM side, and this needs no introduction for many of our readers: Xerox is on track to acquire Lexmark later this year. Lastly, in the world of managed IT services (MITS), The 20 MSP seems to be setting new M&A records by the month.
There’s always something on the move in the print and smart technology space. Stay ahead of it.
Infographic designed by Mark DiMattei, Managing Editor. Data and statistics are a snapshot in time and can change even by tomorrow.
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Channel Strategy Session: 2023 Dealer-Dealer Acquisitions (INFOGRAPHIC)
Channel Strategy Session: 2022 Dealer Acquisitions at a Glance (INFOGRAPHIC)
