Skoda Minotti Acquires Moreland Hills Firm

One of Mayfield Village’s larger employers went shopping last week and came up with another firm to call its own.

Business and financial advisor on Thursday announced that it had acquired Core Information Management Inc., a Moreland Hills-based company that provided security and compliance services to its clients. Skoda Minotta wouldn’t reveal the terms of the deal, but Ken Haffey, a company partner in charge of Advisory Services, believes it was a fair deal and gives the CPA firm the diversity it sought. The purchase led to the formation of Skoda Minotti’s Financial Institution Services Group. Core Information owner Joseph Compton will be in charge of Skoda Minotti’s newly formed group.

The new arm will provide a dozen services to community banks and credit unions, one of several types of firms Compton worked with in 15 years as Core Information Management owner. Skoda Minotti had been looking to form such a group since last summer when discussions began, Haffey said. The services include IT security testing and planning, tax preparation and auditing.

“It was very easy,” Compton said of the deal. “My business was growing tremendously. My client size was getting larger, which required a lot more resources.”

The needed resources were human, not monetary, Compton said. Instead of a staff, he had been contracting some of his work out, and the workload became too much. Meanwhile, Skoda Minotti contracted some its IT jobs out to bidders like Compton because the company didn’t have all the in-house expertise needed, Haffey said.

“We looked at each other and said, ‘Why aren’t we doing this together?’” Compton recalled.

Compton’s client base had a bit to do with Core Information’s appeal, Haffey said. Compton had been servicing firms in the upper Midwest, along with some on the East Coast and in California.

Haffey said the acquisitions and mergers won’t stop anytime soon. The company has more ideas for groups to add, and more discussions appear to be in the closing phase.

“Things have been very quiet with companies interested in selling (themselves),” Haffey said. “Banks weren’t giving acquisition capital, but the ones we’re making, we don’t need any outside capital. All along, we’ve been building our infrastructure and have been active in conversations in a few spots.

“We’re looking for some other specialty practices to add.”