ASL and Orange add to the consolidation trend

Managed office player ASL Group has acquired office equipment supplier Reprotec in a move that will add a greater depth of services to its portfolio.

Nottingham-based Reprotec has been trading for 38 years and has expertise in document management solutions, including the supply and maintenance of colour photocopiers, MFDs and printers.

The acquisition, the details of which were not disclosed, follows on the back of ASL landing backing from private equity finance provider, Primary Capital Partners at the start of the month. That investment was described at the time as an opportunity for the firm to continue to expand its reach through M&A activity.

The Reprotec acquisition is the eleventh acquisition that the firm has made in the last decade, most recently picking up Geerings Digital. The firm has also been on a mission to expand beyond managed print services to deliver an offering that includes unified comms, Software and IT and production print solutions.

Mark Garius, managing director of ASL, said that Reprotec had worked hard to build a solid reputation over three decades and it came with a strong reputation for delivering service in both the public and private sectors.

“Reprotec pride themselves on placing their customers’ needs at the front of their trading practices which our core values entirely. We look forward to working with their well-established service base in the East Midlands and building on its success," he said.

Nick Brown, sales director of Reprotec, responded by revealing it had been in talks about an acquisition with ASL for a while and it was, “very happy that we have chosen a company who will continue to maintain the values and customer service levels that Reprotec’s customers expect moving forward whilst giving them access to further services".

The pace of consolidation in the channel has not let up this year with Orange yesterday completing the acquisition of independent cyber security player SecureLink for an enterprise value of €515m.

SecureLink's strong presence in Europe, with teams based in the UK, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands,  Germany, Denmark and Norway, gives Orange a chance to increase the support it can provide customers.

Orange Cyberdefense has made no secret of its ambition to become the European leader in the market with a local presence seen as an essential part of the package that customers are looking for.