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A Trade Service management group announced plans to buy the business from i2 Technologies, Dallas, and run it as a private company.
Tony Dubreville, general manager of the San Diego-based Trade Service Corp., and his executive management team have signed a letter of intent to buy the company from i2 with a closing date on or before June 30. Dubreville has been with Trade Service for more than 20 years in various capacities.
Trade Service had been a privately held company for more than 70 years, when it was owned by the Simpson family. The Simpsons sold the business in late 1999 to Boston Ventures Management Inc., a Boston-based equity group. i2 acquired Trade Service from that company in 2001.
Once the buyout from i2 is final at the end of June, Dubreville will re-assume the title of president and CEO, which he had had prior to i2’s acquisition of Trade Service.
According to a letter from Trade Service to Electrical Marketing, i2 and Trade Service mutually agreed that the current market offers more opportunity for each company to grow their respective businesses by focusing on their own distinctively different customers, products and industries. i2 will refocus on its core supply chain management business, while Trade Service will lead its content-based business back to operating independence.
“Re-acquiring the business will allow us to commit even greater resources and investments toward expanding and deepening our current offerings, while strengthening customer service and satisfaction,” a spokesperson for Trade Service said.
Trade Service said it also anticipates giving more emphasis to relationships with the industry’s buying/marketing groups, such as Affiliated Distributors and IMARK, and many software vendor partners.
Trade Service is expected to remain at its San Diego headquarters.
Trade Service Corp.’s 6-million item MRO product database has nearly 24,000 North American manufacturers, distributors and contractors subscribing to its catalog and price file maintenance services in the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, office products and automotive aftermarket parts sectors.