Hypercom Corporation has acquired The Horizon Group, Inc., one of the industry's leading providers of value-added, point-of-sale support services. The seven-year-old Horizon will retain its current management structure and corporate identity; Horizon's founder, Ken Boody will remain CEO. Horizon will be operated by Hypercom as an independent subsidiary with sales, distribution, and support operations remaining in St. Louis, Missouri.
"The Horizon Group's acquisition represents an important milestone in the company's history," said Boody. "Since we will be retaining our own identity and management structure, our customers will see only an enhancement to the already robust capability that they currently enjoy."
As many Green Sheet readers know, The Horizon Group is a national distributor of a variety of POS manufacturers' equipment, including Hypercom. They were the first in the industry to develop same-day shipping, as well as deployment and on-line warranty and repair tracking. In addition to sales of new equipment, the 66 employee-strong Horizon also provides refurbishing, help desk support, PIN pad key loading, terminal deployment, and custom parts. Horizon reported $24 million in sales in 1997, $5 million of which was for Hypercom products.
Hypercom hopes the acquisition will help them meet the needs of customers who require direct-from-manufacturers terminal services. "Many large-volume customers today require a one-stop shopping model that provides them with efficiencies in managing the procurement and upgrading of equipment and related software," said Al Irato, president and CEO of Hypercom. "Moreover, the transaction represents an important milestone in the execution of Hypercom's strategy to build recurring revenue streamsÖ. Most important, it allows us to provide services and supplies directly to merchants, thereby shortening the supply chain and increasing efficiency." Hypercom reports that they will continue to work closely with other leading distributors.
