ScanSource Europe rebrands to TexelPro as part of split from US parent
Sources tell CRN that the name change does not signal a return to business for the distributor
ScanSource Europe has rebranded its operations to TexelPro after splitting from its US parent company ScanSource Inc.
CRN reported last month that the communications and point of sale distributor is shutting down its operations across Europe and making mass redundancies following its November sale to private investor Ten Oaks Group for €30m.
The rebrand to TexelPro is part of a planned name change after the distributor split from its US parent ScanSource Inc last year, CRN understands.
The distributor's legal entities remain unchanged and there have been no changes in ownership to ScanSource Europe since its sale to Ten Oaks Group last year.
The ScanSource.eu website now redirects to that of ScanSource Inc's cloud-based IntY entity, which is still owned by ScanSource Inc and was not included in the sale of ScanSource Europe last year.
Sources told CRN that the TexelPro website went live on 1 February.
ScanSource's Twitter and LinkedIn pages have been rebranded to TexelPro. Meanwhile, the TexelPro website displays contact details for its various European offices and links through to a shopping site which uses the same logo and colour scheme as the previous scansource.eu site.
A ScanSource customer told CRN that TexelPro had contacted them yesterday introducing itself as the new brand replacing ScanSource Europe.
The customer added that Texel Pro had also given new banking details for future transactions with the distributor.
But sources told CRN that the name change should not be mistaken as a resurrection of the European business and instead marks a legal obligation for the firm to part ways with the ScanSource brand.
"They're just moving their deck chairs around as the ship sinks," said one source.
"I genuinely believe it was the name they chose to supersede ScanSource EU and it was always planned to come into play on 1 February which is three months after the acquisition."
Another source added that the TexelPro name was devised over the Christmas period last year and was put in place to remove any association with ScanSource Inc while its former European hardware business collapses.
"They've changed their name so the business can disappear in a very anonymous way," they added.
"They wouldn't be allowed to put the name ScanSource on their tombstone."
Many former ScanSource Europe employees in the UK have already found new roles at rival distributors, sources said. Meanwhile those that are still on ScanSource Europe's payroll are long-standing employees waiting for their redundancy pay-outs which are likely to arrive at the end of March.
Sources suggested that the top sales people at ScanSource Europe in the UK have already secured new jobs in the industry, but are waiting until they receive their redundancy pay.
The distributor's product supply remains cut off by its key vendor partners even after the rebrand to TexelPro, sources said, and is continuing to instruct customers that it is out of stock and suggesting they contact another distributor.
Sources also suggested that ScanSource has started to send inventory back to its key suppliers in order to reduce its debt.
"By far ScanSource Europe's biggest brand in the UK was Zebra which was well over half their sales. They're simply not going to be able to resurrect that relationship; Zebra aren't going to have any relationship with that entity. All of the big deals have already been passed to other distributors," one industry source said.
"The part of the business that is likely to survive in some form would be the audio-visual side, because there's not really a dominant UK player in that space. Could the management team buy something from the liquidators if they're appointed? Possibly. But I think the Auto-ID piece is just dead."
UK-based distributor Nuvias, along with other distributors, was at one point interested in entering negotiations to acquire parts of the ScanSource business, sources said.
Nuvias was keen to discuss a potential deal with ScanSource Europe, but ultimately walked away.
Sources said that ScanSource Europe asked Nuvias to comply with excessively strict NDA terms in order for acquisition negotiations to go ahead.
These terms meant that, if a deal fell through, Nuvias would be prohibited from hiring any ScanSource staff or speaking to any of its vendors for an entire year.
"Their NDA protection for the negotiations was making things unbearable to discuss; it made it very difficult to speak to them," the source said.
"If ScanSource and Nuvias entered any negotiations and then the acquisition fell through, they would be absolutely stuck.
"The legal terms meant they wouldn't be able to poach employees or poach vendors and they cannot even poach customers."
Nuvias did not reply to our request for comment by the time of publication.