Top 40 distributor Stran & Company (asi/337725) is on the cusp of another acquisition.

The Massachusetts-headquartered firm says it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase the assets and business of Trend Brand Solutions (asi/346428), a distributorship headquartered in Tomball, TX.

Financial terms of the deal were not announced. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter.

Andy Shape, Stran & Company

Trend Brand CEO Michael Krauser is expected to join Stran as a regional vice president, leading operations in the Texas area. The aim is also to retain all Trend employees.

“This agreement to acquire Trend illustrates our commitment to growth through meaningful and complementary acquisitions,” said Stran CEO/President Andy Shape.

Shape continued: “Trend is a perfect fit for Stran as it broadens our presence within the South, especially within the Houston area, which is home to two dozen Fortune 500 companies and ranks third among metro areas in Fortune 500 headquarters locations. Given Mike’s demonstrated track record, along with his team, we are excited to welcome them to the Stran family and look forward to building on Stran and Trend’s histories of success in the market.”

Trend Brand launched in 2010. The company has what Stran described as a proprietary technology – SMART BUY custom buying sites – that reduces friction in the buying/fulfillment process.

Annually, Trend is said to build more than 100 SMART BUY sites while managing over 35,000 website transactions and shipping over 8,000 orders from inventory. Trend ships globally from its Houston, TX area distribution center and has international factory partnerships to source as close to the end user as possible, according to Stran.

“This is an exciting time to be joining the Stran team as they have established themselves as a leader within the industry and are committed to growth and expansion around the nation,” Krauser said. “Trend is proud to become part of this growth and I’m thrilled that I will be leading Stran’s Texas region to create additional awareness of Stran in this growing market.”

Stran became a publicly traded company in late 2021. The firm has been active with acquisitions of late, closing on Gloucester, MA-based distributorship GAP Promotions in February 2022. Stran also acquired Indiana-based promo firm Wildman Imprints in 2020.

Based on 2020 North American promotional product revenue of $46.9 million, Stran ranked 32^nd on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The new rankings are due out next week.

Stran increased sales 62.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2022 to about $12.3 million, but posted a loss of nearly $546,000 for the three-month period. The loss occurred mainly due to integration expenses tied to the GAP acquisition, continued expenses related to becoming a publicly traded company, and higher purchase costs. Still, executives said the stellar topline sales gain is indicative of the true direction of the company, and they expect strong profitability to return.