January 4, 2009

Airgas Buys Great Lakes Oxygen

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

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Great Lakes Oxygen, also doing business as Welder’s Supply, Westside Welders Supply, Great Lakes Propane, and Lake Erie Iron and Metal.

Great Lakes Oxygen, a distributor of industrial gas and welding supplies, generates annual sales of more than $15 million through locations in Cleveland, Painesville and Brook Park, OH. Facilities include retail showrooms, warehouses, fill plants, a specialty gas laboratory and an acetylene plant.

Since the beginning of its fiscal year in April, Airgas has completed 13 transactions with acquired annual revenues of more than $200 million.

Airgas is a U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and hardgoods, such as welding equipment and supplies. Airgas is also …

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U.S. Construction Spending in November Down 0.6% From October

Building Materials/Construction, Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

U.S. construction spending in November 2008 was $1,078.4 billion, 0.6% below the revised October estimate. November is 3.3% below November 2007. Year-to-date, construction spending is $998.4 billion, 5.3% below the same period in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.

Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $756.4 billion, 1.5% below the revised October estimate. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $328.3 billion in November, 4.2% below October. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $428.2 billion in November, 0.7% above October.

In November, the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending …

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Mid-America Business Conditions Index at a Record Low

Economic Trends, Free, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

Creighton University’s Mid-America Business Conditions Index was at a record low of 33.0 for December. The report, found here, is based on a survey of supply managers in the region. An index of 50 is considered growth-neutral.”

The survey showed job losses for the eleventh time in the past 12 months. Inflation has turned to deflation, and export orders have plunged. North Dakota and Oklahoma are the only states in the region where leading economic indicators are above “growth-neutral.”

A Creighton economics professor and the head of the university’s Economic Forecasting Group says that …

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EMS Group Acquires Cowboy Valve & Fittings

Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Power Transmission/Motion Control/Fluid Power, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Energy Maintenance Services Group I, LLC, Houston, TX, has acquired valve and fittings distributor Cowboy Valve & Fittings, Inc., Beaumont, TX. The acquisition expands EMS Group’s offerings by adding a product division to the organization.

EMS Group employs more than 2,000 people and provides a full range of O&M services on approximately 20,000 miles of pipeline through eight service lines. …

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Cretex Co. Buys Meier Tool & Engineering

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

Diversified manufacturer Cretex Companies, Elk River, MN, has acquired Meier Tool & Engineering, Anoka, MN. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Meier manufactures miniature and micro-sized stamped components and sub-assemblies for the medical, aerospace and defense, and specialty electronics markets. Meier will become part of Cretex’s Commerical Products Group. Founder Richard Meier and the established management team will continue with the acquired company.

Cretex employs about 2,000 people in 10 …

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BMHC Announces More Closures, Consolidations

Building Materials/Construction, Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Strategy, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Building Materials Holding Corp., San Francisco, CA, a provider of building materials and construction services to professional residential builders and contractors, announced it will close several additional facilities in an effort to continue to align costs with current market conditions.

BMHC will close all of its operations located in Northern Nevada, including Reno and Sparks facilities. Greater Portland, OR, market operations will be consolidated to the Vancouver, WA, facility, closing a site in Sherwood, OR. In Marysville, CA, BMHC will consolidate its lumber and building materials distribution and wall panel manufacturing operations into its existing Modesto, CA facilities. Other operational consolidations will occur in Texas, Colorado and Arizona.

These …

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January 4, 2009

Airgas Buys Great Lakes Oxygen

U.S. Construction Spending in November Down 0.6% From October

Mid-America Business Conditions Index at a Record Low

EMS Group Acquires Cowboy Valve & Fittings

Cretex Co. Buys Meier Tool & Engineering

BMHC Announces More Closures, Consolidations

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