B&C Telephone acquired

A Pennsylvania-based international telecommunications company on Tuesday purchased B&C Telephone Inc. of Spokane, B&C’s former owner said.

Black Box Corp. bought privately held B&C, which had annual revenues of about $18 million last year, for an undisclosed amount, according to the companies. Founder and former owner Bill Brouillet said he expects Black Box will keep “most all” of the business’s roughly 125 employees, who work out of 13 offices in four Western states.

Brouillet bills B&C as a “one-stop shop for communication needs.” It offers voice and data equipment and services to more than 20,000 clients, according to the company.

Brouillet, 48, founded B&C as an installation service company in 1984. He will continue overseeing the B&C offices after the takeover.

With 175,000 clients in 141 countries, Black Box, of Lawrence, Pa., bills itself as the “world’s largest technical services company dedicated to designing, building and maintaining” data and voice infrastructure systems.

“B&C will enable us to further expand our national presence into the Northwest,” Rick Gannon, Black Box regional general manager, said in a prepared statement. “B&C has an excellent reputation for providing high quality voice and data services and is well positioned to enhance Black Box’s voice and data services, and hotline products in the market.”

Publicly traded Black Box posted revenues of about $1.02 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31. Black Box shares closed at $43.03 Tuesday, down 1.33 percent.

The 31-year-old company had 3,300 employees in 2006, according to Hoover’s Inc.