RICOH AMERICA CORP ACQUIRES A.B.S.

[Anonymous]

http://www.forbes.com/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswire/2008/05/01/prnewswire200805010900PR_NEWS_USPR_____NYTH057.html
Ricoh Americas Corporation Acquires Associated Business Systems
WEST
CALDWELL, N.J., May 08– Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider
of office equipment in the United States, announced today it has
acquired Associated Business Systems (ABS), a Ricoh dealer
headquartered in Portland, OR. This acquisition signals a major
expansion by Ricoh in the Pacific Northwest marketplace.Effective
immediately, Associated Business Systems will become a wholly owned
subsidiary of Ricoh Americas Corporation and be known as Associated
Business Systems — A Ricoh Company. Craig Knouf, president of ABS will
remain in his current position and have day-to-day responsibility for
all sales, service and administrative operations. Additionally, Knouf
will be responsible for Ricoh Business Solutions (RBS), operations in
Oregon and Washington and will work to integrate these operations over
the next few months.”We are very pleased to have ABS as a member of the
Ricoh Group as we expand our operations in the Pacific Northwest, which
has proven to be a most competitive marketplace,” said Kirk Yoshida,
chairman and CEO of Ricoh Americas Corporation. “By bringing Craig
Knouf into the Ricoh Group, we will have an established and successful
business owner overseeing Ricoh operations. Craig has been an
outstanding Ricoh dealer and is well positioned to help us grow and
succeed in this market,” Yoshida added.”I look forward to helping Ricoh
continue its growth in the Pacific Northwest by offering the most
advanced product line in the industry,” said Craig Knouf, president of
ABS “No other company is better positioned than Ricoh to be a top
performer in this marketplace. The merging of the RBS operations into
ABS creates a very powerful, entrepreneurial business with tremendous
resources to deliver to our customers at a local level,” Knouf
added.ABS was founded in 1997, and has 176 employees. ABS has been
named to INC. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the
U.S. Additionally, ABS was named 2007 Dealer of the Year by the
Business Technology Association and ABS was recently awarded Ricoh’s
Chairman’s Award.

About Ricoh Americas Corporation
Ricoh
Americas Corporation, headquartered in West Caldwell, N.J., is a
subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., the 72-year-old leading supplier of
office automation equipment and electronics, with fiscal year 2007
sales in excess of $19 billion, a 7.3 percent increase over the
previous year.Ricoh Americas Corporation is a leading provider of
document solutions. Ricoh’s fully integrated hardware and software
products help businesses share information efficiently and effectively
by enabling customers to control the input, management and output of
documents.Ricoh Americas Corporation directly or through its network of
authorized dealers markets and distributes products in North, Central
and South America.Information about Ricoh’s complete range of products
and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.ricoh-usa.com.

[Author]

May 28, 2008 at 3:37 PM