Office Equipment Acquisition: UBEO Buys AmPan Business Systems

UBEO Business Services, a printer, copier, and document management solutions company, has acquired AmPan Business Systems -- a provider of multifunction office equipment. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

UBEO, co-headquartered in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, is a provider of printer, copier, and related office equipment. The company also has operations in Louisiana and California.

Private equity firm Sentinel Capital Partners has owned UBEO since 2018, and the office equipment provider has made seven acquisitions over the past two years or so.

Founded in 1994, AmPan is an information technology and services company based in Port Neches, Texas. The company is the original authorized Toshiba Multi-Function Products Dealer in the Golden Triangle area–the region of Southeast Texas near the Louisiana border formed by Beumont, Port Arthur, and Orange.

AmPan will retain its name, executive leadership and employees, the buyer said.

Mergers and Acquisitions: Office Equipment Dealer Valuations

Valuations for office equipment deals can very widely. The same is true for MSPs (managed IT service providers).

Most MSPs — which tend to have heavy recurring revenue — are selling for about 4X to 8X annual EBITDA, ChannelE2E believes. The multiples tend to be 4X to 6X for all cash up-front deals. The higher valuation deals tend to involve pure recurring revenue, healthy EBITDA profit margins (15 percent plus) and performance-based earn outs over a year or two, according to ChannelE2E conversations with M&A participants. In rare cases, top-notch MSPs can fetch 10X annual EBITDA valuations.