The checkered career of Onesource Group Ltd., formed from the merger of Ubix Document Solutions and Cogent Communications, has taken another turn with a management buyout of the company, valued at NZ$150 million (US$104 million).

The merger, completed in 2002, was never without its difficulties, despite bringing together 30,000 customers, 500 staff (including several hundred service engineers) and a turnover of NZ$100 million. The company eventually ended up merging its Ubix business with Konica Minolta copiers and lost its chief executive, Elaine Ford, in the process.

The March 2004 appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Evan Johnston, formerly MD with archrival Fuji Xerox NZ, seems to have given Onesource the focus to build its business and this week"s buyout sees the company reporting annual sales of NZ$150 million with staff of 700 in 15 offices around the country.

The buyout is supported by Archer Capital, one of Australasia"s private equity houses, with around NZ$750 million in funds.

Today, Onesource includes its Konica Minolta printer/copier division, Cogent Communications and also its Onesource finance and leasing division.

Johnston says the company is well placed after three years of investment and development.

"We will now immediately pursue plans to leverage the group?s strong position in digital printing and copying, and telecommunications, with new acquisitions and partnerships to enable us to offer an increasingly sophisticated ?converged? solution to our customers," he said in a statement.