Multititle dental, veterinary, and rehabilitation products cataloger Patterson Dental Co. on April 19 agreed to acquire Medco Supply Co., a $40 million multititle cataloger of sports medicine, first aid supplies, and podiatry products in an all-cash transaction expected to close in early May.
The St. Paul-based Patterson, which sells through the Patterson Dental Supply, Webster Veterinary Supply, and AbilityOne Products Corp. catalogs, will consolidate the Medco titles under the AbilityOne division, which the $1.88 billion Patterson acquired last year. The company plans to consolidate Medco into AbilityOne’s operations.
Whereas Patterson’s namesake and Webster Veterinary Supply businesses sell primarily through field sales reps using annual catalogs as reference tools, the AbilityOne titles rely primarily on catalog sales with field sales efforts to supplement them. By placing the Medco catalogs–which include Medco Sports Medicine, Masune First Aid & Safety, and Surgical Supply Service—in the AbilityOne catalog division, Patterson has itself “a compatible business serving similar markets,” says Patterson’s director of business development Rick Gluesenkamp. The Medco catalogs “extend AbilityOne to markets with similar targeting to podiatry and sports medicine.”