Editor’s Note: Following Commercial Integrator’s InfoComm 2026 conversation with Almo Pro AV, this article discusses Nexora’s pending sale to One Equity Partners and what it means for the value-added distributor’s integrator and manufacturer partners.
When a value-added distributor changes hands, integrators tend to brace for disruption: new faces, new terms and possibly new priorities. But according to Almo Pro AV, this time, integrators can breathe easy.
Nexora, the parent company of Almo Pro AV, is being sold to private equity firm One Equity Partners. But in an interview with Commercial Integrator, Dan Smith, executive vice president of Almo Pro AV, is emphatic that the new ownership will not upend how the distributor works with its partners. Putting it on the record without equivocation, Smith says, “The entire leadership and organizational structure will remain the same.”
In fact, Smith expects the transition to feel almost anticlimactic to the channel. People tend to anticipate dramatic changes whenever ownership shifts, he notes, and Almo doesn’t expect any. And that’s by design.
What Does the One Equity Partners Deal Involve?
The agreement, announced Oct. 9, values Nexora at $725 million on a cash- and debt-free basis. Closing is expected on or after March 1, 2027, pending regulatory approvals across the regions where Nexora does business. The principals have gone through all the due diligence, Smith says, but he notes that the date could shift as approvals move forward.
The sale comes as Nexora’s current owner, DCC Energy, is itself being acquired by a consortium of KKR and Energy Capital Partners, a deal focused primarily on DCC’s energy business.
For CI readers, the announcement of this transaction closes a loop. When CI spoke with Smith and Vishal Chhatralia, senior vice president of marketing for Almo Pro AV and Nexora, back at InfoComm, Chhatralia was adamant that Nexora would be sold as a single, unified business rather than being broken up. Smith confirms that’s how it played out: The full portfolio of businesses moves to One Equity intact.
He adds a detail that integrators and manufacturers alike will welcome, saying, “One Equity is not working with other distributors in our pro AV industry.”
What Will Integrators Notice From Almo?
In the near term, integrators and partners will notice nothing at all. Until the deal closes, One Equity can’t issue directives to the business, Smith explains, although the two sides can talk and share ideas. Moreover, he doesn’t anticipate any real change after March 1.
“We have the same leadership,” Smith says. “We’re still going to follow the same five-year plan.”
Smith confirms that continuity will extend to the day-to-day touchpoints that integrators care about most — namely, their reps, quoting, credit lines and vendor access. Smith likens the ownership change to switching banks.
And a leaner, pared-back Almo isn’t in the cards. “There was no discussion about any reductions in costs or headcounts,” Smith declares.
Almo has 234 people available to talk with customers about AV, he notes, and partners should expect that level of internal resources to continue. The value-added distributor will give customers better digital tools, but the human relationships behind the business aren’t going to change.
Why Does the Type of Investor Matter?
Smith readily acknowledges that private equity firms vary in their strategies, their personalities and their ways of operating.
“Based on our performance, we ended up with a growth-oriented private equity company,” he explains.
In short, One Equity liked what Almo was already doing, Smith says, including its five-year plan. The deal isn’t a mandate to rewrite that plan; rather, it’s a bet on the vision already in place.
“We gave them our five-year plan,” Smith says, “and that’s what they are investing in. And that’s what they bought.”
Performance, more than anything, made the case to One Equity. Almo closed its fiscal year on March 31 having hit its targets, Smith says, and from April through August, as bid processes unfolded, it ran even with or ahead of its own ambitious projections.
“We hit the target that we said we were going to hit,” Smith says. “We took the actions we said we were going to take.”
Almo has outperformed the market for three straight years, Smith adds, with no letup so far. Unique bid registrations for calendar 2026 are tracking in the 42,000 to 45,000 range, he says, and each is touched an average of five or six times after it’s created. That continues the momentum that Chhatralia described at InfoComm, when he reported bid registrations growing roughly 19% year over year.
Where Will Almo Partners See the Investment?
According to Smith, the most visible investments were already in motion before the deal. First up is the website.
“We’re launching a new website this month that is much more powerful and will make doing business with Almo Pro AV much easier,” Smith reveals.
The site will put products, pricing, freight options, shipment tracking, available credit and credit transactions right at integrators’ fingertips. Integrators who need something fast won’t have to wait on someone from Almo’s team to provide it. That self-service also frees up salespeople to spend more time with customers.
Smith also points to bid registration automation, which aims to speed turnaround and has its second phase arriving within weeks, along with new freight pricing and tracking tools. All of it, he says, should be up and running before One Equity takes ownership next year.
More Products, More Customers
The goal is for the new website to extend across Nexora’s other pro AV businesses. These sister-company synergies give customers access to more products, while giving manufacturers access to more customers.
For manufacturers, Almo’s demand-generation capabilities have grown more sophisticated, as well. It now mines intent signals online, identifying buyers before they ever request a bid registration or a price.
“Marketing isn’t just about delivering messages that we want to deliver,” Smith observes. “It’s [about] informing people about things that they’re researching at the time they’re researching it.”
Offering a glimpse into Nexora’s longer-term vision, Smith says that a defined merger-and-acquisition plan is in place. In the U.S., it likely won’t center on pro AV, where Almo Pro AV already enjoys outsized market share. “There are some adjacent businesses that are very specifically already defined in our plan,” he reveals.
As for the Almo Pro AV name, which has seen a few permutations in recent years? It stays Almo Pro AV. Smith knows that the brand is familiar to and trusted among customers, and the company sees no reason for a change.
One Equity Partners Deal: A Vote of Confidence in Almo
In a year when Almo turned 80, the company could have easily framed this deal as a turning point. Smith’s message points the other way: The deal amounts to a vote of confidence in a team, a plan and a track record that were already working.
For integrators that work with Almo Pro AV every day, the takeaway of the One Equity Partners deal is straightforward. The people they call, the terms they rely on and the strategy behind it all remain the same. The only thing changing is the pace.
