DCC Technology, which trades as Exertis, announced its acquisition of Almo Corporation in North America. The acquisition is the biggest yet in the history of parent company DCC plc.

The move extends Exertis’ scale in the Pro AV sector and expanding in the North American market. The addition of Almo Corporation builds on other acquisitions in North America such as Stampede, Jam Industries, The Music People and JB&A, adding depth to its consumer portfolio. 

“The acquisition of Almo Corporation is the largest in DCC’s history and signals our confident and ambitious intent to expand DCC Technology,” said Tim Griffin, DCC Technology & Exertis managing director. “By integrating Almo with our North American Business, we will form the largest specialist Pro AV business in North America. Almo’s 75-year history of growth and success, combined with its longstanding relationships with industry partners and its ability to continually innovate and expand will be great assets to Exertis. In turn, we will bring significant economies of scale, global supply chain access and other benefits to the customers of Almo Corporation.”

Almo’s third-generation, family-owned business brings 660 employees, nine distribution centers and more than 2.5 million square feet of warehousing space across North America. The acquisition will provide Exertis North America with increased back-end economies of scale allied to the front-end specialization that will add multiple benefits for all its vendors and partners.

Almo will continue to be operated by the Chaiken Family, with Warren Chaiken as president and CEO and Gene Chaiken as chairman. The combined Exertis and Almo Pro AV divisions will be led by Sam Taylor, current executive vice president & COO of Almo pro AV. Shortly after the completion of the integration, the combined business will be rebranded as Exertis Almo Pro AV. John Dunne, a long-time senior executive with Exertis, currently leading the Exertis Pro AV team in North America, will join the Almo executive team and help lead the integration. The Premium Appliances and Mainstream Appliances divisions will continue to be led by Steve Terry and Jack Halperin, respectively.

“Having just completed a year-long celebration of 75 years of growth and business success, the time is right to give our manufacturer and channel partners a truly global distribution stage so they can operate their businesses at a greater capacity, leverage more buying power and the ability to compete for a more comprehensive position in the global supply chain,” said Warren Chaiken, Almo Corporation president and CEO. “We are committed to growing with our partners by remaining their value-added distributor with larger scale and access to more products, more services and more financial support. For them, this transition will be seamless in that we will operate business as usual.”

Exertis’ expanded North American operation becomes a $2.4 billion business overseen by Martin Szpiro, managing director of Exertis North America. It forms part of the international expansion strategy of Exertis International, under Managing Director Clive Fitzharris.