May 10, 2006

Regal-Beloit Corporation, Beloit, WI, ($1.4 billion in 2005 sales) has sold its Regal Cutting Tools business to YG1 Co., Ltd., Incheon City, Korea. ‘This is a very positive move for the Regal Cutting Tools business as it will be aligned with a world leading manufacturer and marketer of high speed and carbide rotary cutting tools,’ said

U.S. machine tool consumption was up 4.8% to $725.59 million in the first quarter 2006 compared with the same period last year, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and The Association for Manufacturing Technology.March U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $247.21 million, down 5.8% from February and down 10% from the total of $274.57

Home Depot Supply Aims for $23-$27B by 2010The Home Depot to Buy Hughes Supply for $3.4BThe Home Depot to Acquire National WaterworksHome Depot Subsidiary White Cap Acquires Greenwald SupplyThe Home Depot to Acquire White CapCox LumberHome Depot Supply has expanded its presence on the East Coast with subsidiary Williams Bros. Lumber’s recent purchase of Florida-based

U.S. distributors’ year-to-date sales of PT/MC products rose 11.7 percent through March. Sales in March increased 3.9 percent over February 2006 and were up 12.6 percent as compared with March 2005, according to Power Transmission Distributors Association monthly trend data.For March, the confidence level of U.S. distributors rose to 7.3 from 7.0 in February on

acquire aviation parts distributor Aviall, Inc., Dallas, TX, in an all cash merger for $1.7 billion. Boeing will also assume about $350 million of net debt as part of the transaction. Aviall’s 2005 revenue was $1.3 billion, with more than 25 percent growth expected in 2006. More …Buoyed by acquisitions, Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Peabody,

Economic growth in the U.S. will continue in the second half of 2006, say the nation’s purchasing and supply management executives in their spring 2006 Semiannual Economic Forecast. The projections are part of the forecast issued by the Business Survey Committee of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).Expectations for 2006 remain high as 72 percent

the job their management team did. “By and large, the CEOs felt they did a pretty good job with strategy and negotiation, but they were pretty hard on themselves in due diligence and integration,” Grover says.“… There was a very significant gap in the due diligence between the deals that worked well and the deals

process. Different software companies have embraced the approach to different degrees. You will be reading and hearing a lot more about the concept over the next couple of years. And, as always, there will be some confusion before the smoke clears. Gordon Graham didn't change distribution in a day, and it will take some time

last year.According to the Wall Street Journal, Iscar was valued at about $740 million back in 1997. In the Berkshire deal, the company was valued at $5 billion, more than six times that 1997 worth. A BusinessWeek article on the deal quoted “Israeli financial sources” who estimate the company’s net income last year was $440