Supplier Incentive Concepts (PPAI 212912), headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, has entered into an agreement with Elite Creations (PPAI 229246) to acquire the Cortland, Illinois-based firm, which is a division of Power Equipment Company, effective January 1, 2019.
“This is a rare opportunity for two companies who share similar values, and a mutual respect for one another to combine their operations to better serve the premium, incentive and corporate gifting markets,” says Joe Reinberg, president and CEO of Incentive Concepts. “Our companies have minimal existing product overlaps and even share a number of the same independent sales representatives.”
This agreement will transfer most of Elite Creations brands, including Kate Spade New York, Honda Outdoor Power Equipment, Body Solid, Magic Chef, Poulan/Weedeater, Karcher, AR Blue Clean, Salvatore Ferragamo, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, Rebecca Minkoff, Costa del Mar, Whistler, West Bend and W Unlimited to Incentive Concepts. The current Elite Creations staff, led by Executive Vice President Ted Moravec, will become employees of Incentive Concepts. Moravec will lead the transition project and become vice president at Incentive Concepts.
Dave Olson, president of Elite Creations, adds, “This is a great opportunity for the brands and staff that have built Elite Creations to benefit from the sales and marketing power of Incentive Concepts to provide growth and opportunity.”
Fulfillment operations for the Elite Creations brands will likely transition to Incentive Concepts in the second half of 2019. The current Incentive Concepts sales force of independent sales representatives and in-house sales staff will manage the sales channel for the combined companies. All order processing for these brands will be handled by Incentive Concepts starting January 2.
