It's been seven months since Best Buy acquired Mindshift Technologies in efforts to provide managed services to its small-business customers.
Now Mindshift is on the offensive, having agreed to acquire White Glove Technologies, an Austin, Tex.-based MSP, for an undisclosed amount.
The move adds local coverage to customers in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, helping Mindshift in its goal for nationwide MSP coverage under Best Buy, said Paul Chisholm, CEO of Mindshift.
[Related: MSP Roundup: Channel Expansion Underway]
"Combining the expertise of White Glove Technologies with our existing capabilities further extends Mindshift's reach within the $40 billion small and mid-sized business market," Chisholm said in a statement. "White Glove's IT services team brings the essential experience, talent and resources to the capabilities we have been building over the past decade and we're delighted to have them join our growing Mindshift organization."
White Glove, founded in 2008, is no stranger to M&A activity itself, having purchased Riata Technologies in August 2010.
At the time, White Glove CEO Tommy Wald said the company's goal was to add more locations across Texas and the Southwest.
Soon after the White Glove-Riata merger, Wald told CRN the key to buying and selling a company is getting the company being acquired to operate at its peak financially.
"That's where you're worth the most. With a strong balance sheet and a profitable company, you're a much more attractive acquisition target and you'll command a higher multiple," Wald said in 2010.
White Glove will change its name to Mindshift and continue to operate under its current management team led by Wald, according to Mindshift.
"We are very closely aligned with Mindshift in a focus on delivering superior service and genuine value to SMB clients," said Carey Balzer, president and co-founder of White Glove Technologies, in a statement. "This acquisition enables us to join a proven leader and contribute to Mindshift's continuing growth and evolution in the MSP space."
Under Best Buy, Waltham, Mass.-based Mindshift now has about 500 employees with offices in Boston; Commack, N.Y.; Mendota Heights, Minn.; Morrisville, N.C.; New York; Langhorne, Pa.; and Washington, D.C., and supports more than 5,400 clients.
Before it was acquired by Best Buy, Mindshift had become a $100 million "super MSP" with plans of making even more acquisitions. It appears that that plan hasn't changed.
The transaction is expected to close in July, according to Mindshift.
