Rexel Inc., the largest single member of IMARK Group Inc., announced plans to leave the buying group effective July 1. Rexel will continue as a member through June 30, which marks the end of IMARK's fiscal year.
In a joint press release issued by Rexel and IMARK on March 8, Rexel said its senior management team reached the decision at its division presidents' meeting on March 6.
Rexel was not available at press time to comment on why it's leaving IMARK, but the company's decision to pull out of IMARK ends uncertainty over whether Rexel would continue its affiliation with IMARK through Westburne and other companies it acquired in the past two years.
Rexel's association with IMARK began in 2000 with its acquisitions of the Branch Group, Upper Marlboro, Md., and Westburne Inc., St. Laurent, Que. The Branch Group and many of the other independent distributors acquired by Westburne and Rexel have had a long association with IMARK and its predecessor groups.
Steven Cunningham, IMARK's chief executive officer, doesn't expect Rexel's leaving IMARK to have any effect on the buying group's remaining 195 members. One of the biggest losses from losing the distributor, he said, comes from the contributions that individuals associated with Rexel and their companies have made to the buying/marketing group over the years.