Ricoh Canada Inc. has reached an agreement to acquire Graycon Group Inc. of Calgary, an IT consulting solution provider specializes in security, infrastructure, cloud and networking systems. The acquisition Graycon is being described by Ricoh as a strategic investment to expand the company’s managed services portfolio. In January of 2014 Ricoh agreed to buy managed services provider mindShift Technologies Inc.
Graycon ranked No. 42 on CDN’s Top 100 list with revenues between $30 to $35 million. Graycon also grew through acquisition with the 2011 deal with fellow CDN Top 100 reseller Voda Computer Systems Ltd.
Founder Douglas Gray said Graycon will continue to operate under its current name and under the leadership of the current management team. The transaction is expected to close within the next 30 days.
The strategy behind this deal is for Graycon to help Ricoh continue to drive value to customers through expanded services offerings as well as support Ricoh’s growth as a provider of managed IT Services.
Glenn Laverty, president and CEO of Ricoh Canada, said bringing Graycon into the Ricoh family demonstrates the company’s continuing efforts to deliver a robust services portfolio to the Canadian marketplace. This strategic acquisition demonstrates Ricoh Canada’s commitment to expanding the services business, which includes professional services, business information services and legal services.
Gray, who is also president and CEO of Graycon, commented that he is excited about the future of his company calling the partnership “epic.”
He added that Ricoh’s services mission and the values Graycon are extraordinarily aligned and the depth of experience in the SMB space along with the company’s strong relationships in Western Canada combined with Ricoh’s national capacity and resources creates something quite unique and compelling.
Besides Graycon’s headquarters in Calgary, the company has operations in six cities across Western Canada and has been in the channel for 26 years. The other offices are in Edmonton, Red Deer, Alta., Saskatoon, Kelowna, B.C., Kamloops, B.C. and Vancouver.
This is not Ricoh’s first time acquiring a CDN Top 100 company. Back in 2008, the Japanese printer maker bought Ikon Office Solutions in a deal worth $1.6 billion.