Flash Drive Direct (asi/40658), a Richmond, BC-based ad specialty supplier, has acquired USB Digital Frames, a digital picture frame designer located in Canada. Terms of the deal, which was finalized in cash, were not revealed. USB Digital Frames will continue to operate under its original name, and the suppliers will undertake joint marketing ventures to promote their complementary product lines, says John Graham, vice president of marketing for Flash Drive Direct.
Graham says the deal stemmed mainly from his company's desire to acquire more market share in the ad specialty industry and USB Digital Frames, with its numerous environmental certifications, would help take them to that next step. Some of USB Digital Frames' nature-friendly accolades include being RoHS, WEEE and Energy Star compliant. (The first two are European standards for reducing environmental waste and the latter measures energy efficiency.) The company expects sales of USB Digital Frames to triple in 2008. "This business is about being sustainable, profitable and concerned to a point where we're able to make a positive impact in whatever way we can," Graham says.
USB Digital Frames' management team will be taken over by Flash Drive Direct and all employees are expected to remain as a result of the acquisition. Terrence Helpin, former president of USB Digital Frames, has left the company.
