DeWITT — FM Office Express Inc., which operates in the Rochester area, has acquired Stevens Office Interiors of DeWitt in a deal that represents a succession plan for Stevens co-owners Thomas Maugeri and Patrick Lewis. The acquisition deal closed March 31, says Maugeri, who spoke with CNYBJ in his office at Stevens Office Interiors on […]
DeWITT — FM Office Express Inc., which operates in the Rochester area, has acquired Stevens Office Interiors of DeWitt in a deal that represents a succession plan for Stevens co-owners Thomas Maugeri and Patrick Lewis.
The acquisition deal closed March 31, says Maugeri, who spoke with CNYBJ in his office at Stevens Office Interiors on April 13. Fabricio Morales, CEO of FM Office Express, joined the interview over the phone.
With Stevens Office Interiors, FM Office Express is serving the Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany markets and can “better deploy more resources to better service the market,” says Morales.
Neither Maugeri nor Morales would disclose any financial terms of the acquisition agreement. Morales also declined to disclose how his company financed the purchase or specify the assets that his company acquired in the transaction.
Maugeri, who served as president of Stevens Office Interiors, and Lewis, who was company VP, have been retained as consultants. Maugeri will be in that role for “several months,” and Lewis will leave his role in about three months, according to Maugeri.
Both men bought the firm in November 2000. Stevens Office Interiors started operations in 1956.
Stevens Office Interiors operates in an 18,000-square-foot space at 6804 Manlius Center Road in DeWitt. The location includes a 10,000-square-foot showroom.
Similar companies
Both FM Office Express and Stevens Office Interiors are authorized dealers for Steelcase, Inc. (NYSE: SCS), with FM already servicing both the Rochester and Albany markets.
“We’ve known each other for several years, probably 15 years,” says Maugeri. “We work together in mutual projects.”
The deal “just made sense” to allow FM Office Express to service the Syracuse market with Steelcase products as well, Maugeri adds.
Steelcase describes itself as a Grand Rapids, Michigan–based provider of “office furniture, interior architecture and space solutions for offices, hospitals and classrooms.”
Besides Stevens Office Interiors in Central New York, FM Office Express also operates Merkel Donohue, also an authorized Steelcase dealer, in the Rochester and Albany markets.
“We both wanted this to happen. It’s a good thing,” says Maugeri, referring to Morales and the acquisition.
The DeWitt business will retain the Stevens Office Interiors name, even though it’ll be legally known as FM Office Express, dba Stevens Office Interiors, according to Maugeri.
Stevens Office Interiors has about 30 full-time employees. By adding those employees, FM Office Express’s total employee count rises to more than 100 workers.