June 30, 2008

Airgas Announces Price Hikes

Companies, Free, Gases & Welding Equipment, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Radnor, PA-based gases distributor and supplier Airgas, Inc. announced that beginning Aug. 1, 2008, or as contracts permit, it will raise prices on gases and equipment. Prices will increase, on average, 20% for bulk and cylinder acetylene, argon, and hydrogen; 15% for bulk and cylinder oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, and specialty gases; and 15% for cylinder and bulk equipment rental fees.

Prices will also increase for hardgoods and safety supplies, and delivery and other service charges.

Airgas attributed the increases to jumps in product costs from suppliers and rising operating costs at plants and distribution facilities, driven by raw material, energy, electricity and labor costs. Rising metal prices are also driving up costs for cylinders, …

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Graham Packaging to Go Public in $3.2B Deal

Free, News, Operations, Paper Products & Packaging Distribution, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Hicks Acquisition Company has agreed to buy Graham Packaging Holdings Co., York, PA, and then take it public with the Graham Group and The Blackstone Group in a transaction valued at $3.2 billion.

The company will be renamed Graham Packaging Co. after the deal is completed and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Blackstone has agreed to hold the largest ownership stake for at least two years.

Graham Packaging had about $2.5 billion in sales in 2007. The company supplies blow-molded rigid plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty and automotive lubricant industries. The company supplies many global consumer product companies, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Danone/Dannon, Ocean Spray, Heinz, Abbott, Arizona …

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Avnet Acquires Source Electronics

Companies, Electrical, Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Electronics distributor Avnet, Inc. has acquired Source Electronics Corp., Hollis, NH.

Source is a provider of outsourced custom programming services for integrated circuits (IC). Source serves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract manufacturers (EMS) and component manufacturers. From facilities in Brazil, China, Mexico, Singapore and the U.S., Source supports end markets including consumer electronics, automotive, mobile communications, telecommunications, networking, computing and enterprise storage.

Source will be integrated into the services operations of Avnet Logistics, a division of Avnet that delivers logistics and programming services globally.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, Avnet had revenues of $15.68 …

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Oil Prices Strain Manufacturing Sector

Economic Trends, Free, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

In a new Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI report, The Future of Oil: Are We There Yet?”, the author says oil price spikes have “created headwinds for the manufacturing sector.”

Among other things, the new report covers the impact on manufacturing costs:

“In 2002, the manufacturing sector spent $1.7 billion for residual and distillate fossil fuel,” the author writes. “Assuming the price of oil holds steady at its May 2008 level for the remainder of 2008, manufacturers will spend approximately $7.4 billion for residual and distillate fuel oil for all of 2008. Some of the increase reflects larger output, but by far most of the increase in spending (96%) is attributable to the four-fold increase in the average refiner acquisition cost of oil since …

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June 30, 2008

Airgas Announces Price Hikes

Graham Packaging to Go Public in $3.2B Deal

Avnet Acquires Source Electronics

Oil Prices Strain Manufacturing Sector

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