Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS), a software supplier of software to the merchant industry, has reached an agreement to acquire Mincron Software Systems, based in Houston, Texas, and its successful suite of products.

This acquisition is a key strategic investment for KCS and a welcome development for Mincron. The companies will form one of the strongest ERP offerings for the distributive trades in North America.

KCS has over 800 distributive trade customers worldwide, focusing on wholesalers/distributors/retailers and merchants in the construction, industrial and other sectors.

In parallel, Mincron has a 30-year history of delivering ERP solutions to a similar customer profile - businesses that need to source effectively, stock efficiently, sell profitably and service competitively. The acquisition of Mincron by KCS follows the successful acquisition and integration of Cary, North Carolina-based Dancik International in July 2015.

Mincron will continue to focus on product innovation, including maintaining and supporting the existing SmartDistributor product suite while providing customers access to other products and services from the KCS portfolio.

Ian Bendelow, KCS Group chief executive officer, said: "This is another key strategic acquisition for us and our second in North America in as many years. It strengthens our geographical presence in the North American market and provides a further platform for growth in this important region. Mincron aligns with our successful business strategy of focusing on trading and business management solutions for the distributive trades, including wholesalers, distributors, retailers, merchants and resellers.

"Our customers will benefit from this acquisition through greater strength and depth in our North American team to support our functionally rich solutions to meet their business goals & challenges."

Wendy Berger, general manager of Mincron, said: "The acquisition by KCS brings together two great companies with similar history, culture and customer profile. The combined resources will further strengthen the KCS brand in North America and I look forward to being part of the Group and leading the Mincron team into a new era of opportunity."

As executive vice president for KCS Group in North America, Alan Cross will support Wendy Berger and the Mincron team and help to ensure that that benefits of being part of the larger group are available to all customers.