ArchivesOne, Inc. of Waterbury Connecticut Acquires Security Archives of West Michigan

Waterbury Republican-American
Wednesday, June 17, 2004

Waterbury-based ArchivesOne Inc. said Thursday it has acquired a Michigan archiving company in a move that expands the company's presence in the Midwest.

ArchivesOne, a privately held company, headquartered on Watertown Avenue, said it purchased Security Archives of West Michigan, which is headquartered in Battle Creek, Mich. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The company has now acquired 17 other records management and storage companies since it was founded in 1991. The acquisition announced Thursday was its second in the past month, third of 2004, and sixth in the past two years.

The deal will add about 360 new customers in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo areas of western Michigan and 12 new employees, according to John Pavlovich, the company's chief operating officer. It also adds 111,000 square feet of warehouse space in a four-story facility.

It also enables ArchivesOne to enter a second Midwestern market, Pavlovich noted. The company first entered the region in October 2000 when it purchased National Archival Services of Columbus, Ohio.

Ed Huard, president of Security Archives, said he and his wife have been approached by a number of firms interested in acquiring their company over the past few years, but that none of the other suitors provided a comfortable "fit" in terms of corporate focus and culture.

"Since our introduction to ArchivesOne, we have been impressed with their business philosophy and marketing orientation," he said. "We are pleased and feel confident that our clients will receive the same level of service that has been the hallmark of Security Archives over the last 15 years."

ArchivesOne, which recorded about $20 million in revenues in the last fiscal year, now has close to 4,500 customers in 10 metropolitan areas in the Northeast and Midwest. The company, which says it is among the nation's five largest off-site records-storage companies, has about 180 employees and more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space.

The Michigan acquisition comes less than three weeks after ArchivesOne announced the acquisition of Alliance Records Management of Lancaster, Pa., a transaction that gave the company its first foothold in Pennsylvania. The company announced its first acquisition of the year in March when it purchased the records storage division of SOS/Flexible Warehousing of Newark, N.J.

ArchivesOne last week also announced a partnership with AmeriVault Corp., of Waltham, Mass., that will enable it to offer customers AmeriVault's online data backup and recovery services.

Jonathan W. D'Elia, senior vice president of sales and marketing, said the company is exploring several other acquisitions both within and outside of its existing footprint, though he said none of the transactions are close to be finalized at this point. "I expect we will continue to grow by acquisition in 2004," he said.