HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000) is already the biggest distributor in the North American promotional products industry.

Now, the Sterling, IL-based company is expanding its presence in the United States’ largest city through the acquisition of New York City-based distributor Captiv8 Promotions.

Financial terms of the deal between the privately held companies were not released.

Marc Simon, HALO

Larry Shapiro, president of Captiv8, will continue as senior vice president of sales at HALO. Captiv8’s sales, support and creative services team will maintain their Manhattan presence.

“Larry Shapiro has built an impressive business by focusing on creative product design and exceptional service to a list of blue-chip clients,” said HALO CEO Marc Simon, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the promo industry’s most influential people. “The Captiv8 team’s core competencies align perfectly with the growing suite of client-centric offerings we provide at HALO.”

Shapiro said that Captiv8 continues to grow – something he believes the partnership with HALO will fuel. “The extensive support HALO provides clients will expand our offering to our current customers and allow us to attract new business,” Shapiro said.

HALO already has a big presence in the Big Apple. That comes through its HALO Recognition brand, which is the former Michael C. Fina Recognition, a global rewards, recognition and incentives provider that HALO acquired in 2017, and through the former Axis Promotions, which was a Top 40 promo distributor when HALO acquired it in 2020.

“The addition of Captiv8 to our successful selling and operational teams in New York City…will enhance our strategic market strength in this key market,” said Simon.

With reported 2020 North American promotional product revenue of $765.7 million, HALO ranked first on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.

Captiv8 Promotions’ clients include household name brands like Disney, ESPN, Netflix, Peloton, NBC Universal and many more. The company’s roots stretch back to 1993 when Shapiro began knocking on the doors of bars and restaurants in New York City with the intention of selling them baseball caps with their company name and logo