Latin America. In a move designed to dramatically expand accessibility to AV Pro distributors and integrators, Almo Professional A/V announced that it is acquiring IAVI.
As a result, Almo Corporation – a distributor with 70 years of experience – will become the largest privately held professional audio and video distributor in the industry and a $1.2B corporation. Almo also becomes a global company through the acquisition of IAVI's Latin American business.
"We are proud to be the third generation of an American family business with a vision to expand job opportunities and fuel the economy," said Warren Chaiken, president and CEO of Almo Corporation. "The care of our employees, partners and manufacturers has always been in the first place. The acquisition will give thousands of distributors and integrators access to high-quality distribution while Almo Pro A/V will be a highly competitive global distributor."
According to Sam Taylor, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Almo Pro A/V, "For nearly 20 years, IAVI has brought a value-added approach to the market with its high level of customer service, talented and successful employees in Latin America. This is in line with Almo Pro A/V, so IAVI was a perfect fit to become a part of our society. Combined with our managed services, engineering and design support, and leading education and training programs, Almo brings a new opportunity for the AV Pro community that is currently unavailable."
Wade Gilbert, founder and president of IAVI said, "Looking for ways to expand the business, I saw that becoming part of a larger entity like Almo Corporation would provide a multitude of benefits for our customers, our partners and our employees. Taking best practices from both companies will allow us to build an even stronger value proposition for our customers."
IAVI partners can expect to experience a number of new benefits through the acquisition, including:
- Access to Almo's content creation, installation and broadband management services, which provide a new dimension of growth and ongoing revenue potential.
- A full-featured e-commerce portal called Almo ACCESS(TM), which includes online tracking, orders, price lists, return requests, custom spec sheets, images, and a wealth of valuable information.
- Highly competitive pricing and shipping rates, coupled with purchasing power that ensures healthy inventory and advanced logistics thanks to the magnitude, scope and power of the division's parent company, Almo Corporation.
- Inventory in seven warehouses across the country for nationwide projects.
- Access to new product lines for the professional and consumer markets.
- Award-winning education programs, such as the AV E4 Tour to help distributors stay ahead of trends and become more competitive.
The transaction is expected to close next month.
