ARI Network Services announced that it has acquired Direct Communications Inc. (DCi), a provider of differentiated product content and electronic catalog software serving manufacturers, distributors, jobbers and independent retailers in the automotive aftermarket. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed."The acquisition of DCi will accelerate ARI's growth in the automotive aftermarket and is consistent with our strategy to grow the business both organically and through strategic acquisitions," said ARI president and CEO Roy W. Olivier. "The acquisition allows ARI to further expand the reach of our data-driven eCommerce websites and automotive point-of-sale software and will propel the development of new technologies to serve the 500,000 businesses in the automotive aftermarket."DCi will maintain its headquarters in Des Moines, IA, under the continued leadership of Mark Toebben, who will assume the role of vice president and general manager of DCi, an ARI Company."At DCi, our mission is to link buyers and sellers and provide solutions for every type of business in the automotive aftermarket," Toebben said. "For almost 35 years, we've dedicated ourselves to that mission, and I'm excited to come together with ARI to provide a much wider range of complete solutions for businesses across the aftermarket – from a single-location speed shop to a multi-location warehouse distributor to large and small manufacturers.""We expect the DCi acquisition to generate incremental revenue of approximately $4 million and be accretive to EBITDA for fiscal 2016," ARI CFO William A. Nurthen said.
