All Covered Keeps Them Coming: Two More MSP Buys

All Covered acquired Thinsolutions, a Cleveland-based MSP that also specializes in cloud services, and PC Solutions, a Minneapolis-based MSP that also provides security and risk management services. All Covered, a division of Konica Minolta Business Solutions, has employed an aggressive acquisition strategy over the past two years to expand its reach across the country and add vertical market expertise.

Thinsolutions and PC Solutions mark the third and fourth acquisitions for All Covered this year. The company added Service Assurance, Memphis, Tenn., in February and acquired Boston-based Covisia Solutions in March. All Covered said it has added 10 leading regional, SMB-focused MSPs in key geographies in the past two years.

"You'll see a lot more of these kinds of density plays where we look to add the biggest MSPs in large cities," said Todd Croteau, president of All Covered.

Michael Fischer, CEO of Thinsolutions, said All Covered was a good fit for his company because much of its client base uses distributed environments and mobile workforces. "All Covered was a good match for us because a lot of our clients are so spread out," Fischer said. "The first thing a lot of them asked was if they could take advantage of other regional All Covered offices, which they can, so our clients were pretty excited."

Mark Berndt, president and CEO of PC Solutions, said his company was actually looking to make acquisitions -- PC Solutions had made a couple of notable acquisitions of its own in 2010 and 2011. But Berndt decided that growing PC Solutions through acquisitions was taking too long and decided instead to look for a buyer.

"Once I made that decision, I had a short list of companies that I thought were attractive destinations," Berndt said. "We had discussions with MindShift and a few others, but what it came down to was All Covered understands the SMB market better than anybody and they also understand the value of the client relationship at the local level."

Croteau said All Covered expects to have more acquisition news in the near future as the MSP space heats up.

"I think the MSP market is getting much more competitive today," Fischer said. "Anyone that sends out a money service bill is calling themselves an MSP now."