Major suppliers and services provider, Banner, has acquired Ventura Office Supplies to strengthen its market coverage.
Banner’s strategy to diversify beyond a traditional base of large contract customers led to this acquisition, which follows last year’s absorption of another reseller – WA Office Needs.
Ventura’s 12 years in the industry have made it one of the UK’s leading independent office product dealers. For Banner, this will add scale and expertise to its own offering, particularly in educational supplies, computer hardware, and office furniture.
Ventura’s staff will be retained, the business will continue to operate from its present site in Bingley, and it will still trade under its own name.
Andrea Eli, director and previous owner of Ventura with her partner Hari Athwal, has joined the Banner sales leadership team as sales director. Explaining the sale, she said:
“We’re extremely proud of the success we’ve enjoyed with Ventura, but this is absolutely the right time for us to become part of Banner. There are significant and increasing restrictions on smaller dealers’ ability to grow their customer bases, product ranges, incomes and resourcing in the current market, without them spending serious money, and this deal releases all those chains we felt were holding us back.
“We’re also certain this is a very exciting time to be joining Banner. We’re excited by the company’s vision of its future – which is very bright indeed – and its extremely strong position in the market. We’ve been greatly impressed by the expertise and enthusiasm about the years ahead among Banner’s people from the moment they first approached us.”
Summarising the reasons for the Ventura acquisition, Craig Varey, managing director, Banner, said: “The purchase will bring us incremental sales and expand our market coverage on behalf of our suppliers. It has also allowed us to add some outstanding experience and expertise in servicing growth categories to our team.
“Importantly, our partnership with Ventura makes additional sense because of our shared values. It was obvious when we were talking to Andrea and Hari that our two organisations were compatible for many reasons, such as our intense mutual focus on delivering the highest possible customer service standards.”
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