Toshiba America Business Solutions Announces Acquisition of $55 Million Office Equipment Dealer
IRVINE, Calif. — Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS) announced
today it has acquired Connected Office Products, Inc. (COPI) of Lawrence, Pa.
COPI has an annual revenue of $55 million and 29 locations in 11 states.
COPI, which currently does not sell any Toshiba products, will become part
of Toshiba’s TOPAC division, a network of acquired office equipment dealers
whose revenue is expected to nearly triple by 2003 through internal growth and
acquisition.
This is the second major acquisition for Toshiba in
recent months. Last June, TABS announce it had purchased Offtech of
Wilmington, Mass., one of the largest independent office equipment supplier
dealers in the United States.
“COPI meets all the criteria that TABS is
looking for as we continue to look for dealers in the top 25 U.S. markets to
acquire. We believe this purchase presents a tremendous opportunity for TABS and
will result in significant growth in our market share and generate positive cash
flow for Toshiba,” said Rick Taylor, senior vice president of sales, marketing
and business operations for TABS. “COPI’s customer base is comprised of
small to medium-sized businesses that are easily convertible to Toshiba
product.” He added that COPI’s management team of Bob Greenhalgh, president, and
Bill Sprecher, chief operating officer, will play an important role in TOPAC’s
future growth and success.
“Over the past five years, Mr. Sprecher
and Mr. Greenhalgh have been acquiring various office equipment dealerships and
integrating them with their operations. We feel these skills can be of
tremendous value to TOPAC as we move forward and acquire additional dealers,”
Taylor said.
Since its inception seven years ago, TOPAC has acquired 14
independent dealers including COPI. There are currently eight existing
subsidiaries in the network with locations across the United States.
Contact Toshiba at (800) GO-TOSHIBA or visit either www.copier.toshiba.com or
www.fax.toshiba.com.
This article originally appeared in the March 2002 issue of Recharger.