Petaluma’s Intelisys sold for $84M initial payment

Intelisys Communications, founded in 1994, has been bought by a South Carolina firm for an initial payment of $84 million.|

Petaluma-based Intelisys Communications Inc. has been bought by ScanSource Inc. of Greenville, South Carolina, for an initial $84 million price plus payments based on earnings over the next four years.

“We did not need to sell this company,” said Rick Sheldon, who co-founded the business in 1994 with Rick Dellar. “They felt it was a time to get into our space.”

Sheldon, Dellar and co-owner Dana Topping, who came on board when his company merged with Intelisys in 2006, ultimately were persuaded the company could grow faster under ScanSource, a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ.

The sale is expected to close in the quarter that ends Sept. 30.

Intelisys is a technology services distributor, a conduit between suppliers of telecom, cable and cloud services and those who resell those services in the marketplace. It had $120 million in commissions last year.

The company is one of the few remaining independent Sonoma County telecom-related firms, which had previously been a major driver for the local economy before the 2001 dotcom bust.

ScanSource is a technology provider in areas such as point-of-sale services, barcodes, video and emerging technologies. It did ?$3.2 billion in sales during its fiscal 2015.

No layoffs are planned for Intelisys, which employs 60 people in Petaluma and 60 others who work remotely or in other offices, said Jay Bradley, president of the firm.

In fact, it is hiring as it has experienced double-digit growth in recent years, especially as cloud services have been more popular.

Sheldon, Dellar and Topping will stay with Intelisys, which will operate as an independent company.

Sheldon said the two companies also have a similar culture that should make the acquisition seamless. For example, he and Dellar went to Greenville in the early 1990s when they launched to learn more about the business.

Sheldon noted they encountered some people who later ended up at ScanSource, making them feel more comfortable about the sale.

“We could not have asked for a better cultural fit,” Sheldon said.

Editor’s note: This story is updated to reflect purchase price includes an initial $84 million plus payments based on earnings over the next four years.

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