SYRACUSE — Avalon Document Services has expanded into Ohio with the acquisition of two offices of Cleveland, Ohio–based ProFile Discovery. The deal adds Cleveland and Akron, Ohio to Avalon’s list of office locations.

In the transaction, which closed Feb. 18, Avalon acquired ProFile’s employees, equipment, service lines, and customer list, JP Midgley, CEO and co-owner of Syracuse–based Avalon Document Services, tells The Business Journal. Avalon isn’t releasing financial terms of its agreement with ProFile.

Avalon, which is headquartered in a 12,000-square-foot facility at 901 N. State St., provides copying, scanning, printing, and litigation-support services to law firms, architects, engineers, and other businesses.

Avalon generated revenue of $6.2 million in 2013. And, with the two new offices, the firm is projecting revenue will rise to about $8.7 million this year, Midgley says. The deal will also boost Avalon’s employee count from 75 to 100.

Ohio market
Ohio is a market that Avalon wanted to enter, says Midgley, who does most of his work from the Avalon office in Buffalo. 

As it considered options for growth, Avalon worked with Next Point, LLC — a consulting firm, in its search for companies that could represent “potential fits” for Avalon, says Midgley.

“They did a lot of the reaching out, looking for the types of companies that fit what we’re looking for,” he adds.

Next Point is a firm that works to “address the needs of small- to mid-sized closely held businesses that wish to restructure, grow, and most of all thrive,” according to its website. Next Point operates offices in Buffalo and Syracuse. 

Besides its offices in Northeast Ohio, ProFile Discovery also operates a location in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio firm’s website and the Avalon news release list the Avalon deal as affecting only the offices in Cleveland and Akron.

Both Midgley and Shawn Thrall, Avalon’s president and co-owner, met with ProFile’s co-CEO, Chris Haag, at his office in Cleveland. 

“There [were] a lot of synergies there between us and our pasts and his past,” Thrall says.

Thrall and Midgley acquired Avalon from former owner Jon Denney in July 2011. Denney is operating Jon Denney Executive Coaching, LLC, an executive coaching and consulting business.

ProFile specializes in facilities-management services, says Midgley.

“We’re talking about … running the in-house copy center, the print room, the mail room for larger corporations, law firms. They brought that kind of expertise to us,” he adds.

The Ohio firm didn’t focus on the architectural and engineering markets, but had previously discussed interest in those markets, according to Midgley. 

Avalon brings experience serving those customers to the Cleveland and Akron offices, he says.

ProFile will also offer copy, print, and document-management services for the general-business community.

Under the agreement, Avalon will grow from 75 to 100 employees, Midgley and Thrall say.

The employees in the Ohio offices will remain in their current locations.

“They’re going to stay put. They’re going to be doing their own thing with our procedures in place,” Thrall says

The employees include Chris Haag, former co-CEO of ProFile Discovery, who will remain with the company as vice president of sales, and former co-CEO Kevin O’Donnell, who will serve as managing partner of the Cleveland and Akron offices. 

ProFile’s Haag sees the acquisition as a “tremendous opportunity for growth” in servicing businesses beyond law firms.

“ProFile Discovery will be perfectly positioned to easily expand our customer base,” Haag said in an Avalon news release. 

The firm also said it plans to add administrative staff to support its growth.

During the transition, the Ohio offices will continue operating as ProFile Discovery under the Avalon Document Services name, according to the Avalon news release.

Avalon also expanded more than a year ago with its acquisition of Buffalo–based Delaware Copy in February 2013. The company moved its Buffalo office to a 10,000-square-foot office last month, doubling the size of its operating space in the market.

The firm says it “has enjoyed steady growth” since its inception in 2000.

Besides its offices in Syracuse, Buffalo, and the new Ohio offices, Avalon also operates New York locations in Utica and Rochester.       

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com