The company has continued on its relentless path of expansion with the purchase of Mashpee’s KenMark Office Systems.
The Massachusetts company becomes Visual Edge’s latest acquisition in a busy summer, and will merge with Axion Business Technologies, Visual Edge’s core New England company.
KenMark was established in 1983 by Ken Pedicini and Mark Brainson, who had previously worked together for Savin Corporation handling the State of Massachusetts’ photocopier contract. It has been a Savin dealership for over 30 years and has been awarded as a Savin Elite Dealer for the past 5 years.
The deal will unite the two companies as Axion/KenMark, to become “a true, total business solutions, supply and technology powerhouse serving the Greater Boston, Greater Worcester, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Southern Massachusetts marketplaces, along with Cape Cod and the Islands.” As a result of the merger, Axion will be relocating its Cape Cod office as the two companies combine operations at KenMark’s Mashpee headquarters.
“KenMark is one of Axion’s biggest competitors in Southeastern Massachusetts,” Axion President Robert Ferland said. “We both have super reputations, long-time customers, and long-tenured employees; they’re the perfect compliment.”
Further complementing the merger, KenMark represents the manufacturers of Konica Minolta and Savin/Ricoh, as does Axion, making service and support continuity “seamless.”
Axion/KenMark will operate under Ferland’s leadership with Pedicini assuming the role of vice president of sales for the newly combined sales teams. For the first time both companies will be able to offer their respective customers products and services that they had previously not been able to offer, such as office furniture, managed network and IT services, production print, and expanded managed print services.
“There is great synergy with our companies that we were missing before,” Pedicini declared. “We will now be able to offer so much more as Axion/KenMark under one roof.”
“In todays’ world, this is not like your typical manufacturer, corporate buyout. It’s a great thing to have two competitors remain local in the Massachusetts/Cape Cod community and continue to do business like they have for the past 35 years,” said Ferland. “Like I told my employees, the great part about acquisitions is that you can constantly expand your own customer base through products and services that you didn’t have before.”
“I have travelled the world working in this industry but Cape Cod is still my slice of paradise,” said Pedicini. “My wife and I love raising our family here and getting engaged in the community. From sponsoring and coaching our three children’s youth teams, to leading the Board of Directors of the Baybridge Clubhouse for the mentally ill, giving back to the community is at the heart of this business.”
KenMark also sponsors an annual student scholarship fund for local graduating seniors, and is an active supporter of the United Way and the Woman’s Empowerment through Cape Area Networking (WE CAN) organisations.
The acquisition of KenMark follows the news earlier this week that Visual Edge had also purchased Technocom Business Systems and Mercury Document Imaging; this treble is just the latest round of acquisitions for the company, that has seen its footprint grow in Michigan, Kentucky, Florida, and Vermont so far in 2018.
