grew 18.5% in local currency.  ; More …
Dana Corporation, Toledo, OH, received approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to sell two businesses that make up its fluid products unit. Its fluid products hose and tubing business will be sold to Orhan Holding A.S., a Turkish industrial firm and joint-venture partner of Dana for $85 million. Dana’s coupled products business will be sold to Coupled Products Acquisition LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanxiang (USA) Holdings Corporation. Dana had sales of $8.5 billion in 2006. More …
Mayer Electric Supply Inc. has acquired Southeast Supply in Calhoun, Ga., as its 58th branch, the Birmingham Business Journal reported. Mayer Electric Supply is a distributor of electrical equipment and supplies, lighting, factory automation, tools and communications. Mayer serves eight states in the Southeast.
manufacturing sector expanded in May for the fourth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 67th consecutive month, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. Both the New Orders and Production Indexes indicated growth. The ISM Inventories Index indicates that manufacturers are now in their 10th month of inventory reduction. A major concern of respondents is the rate of price increases covering a wide variety of commodities. More …
Austin Hardware and Supply, Inc. has acquired JPC Specialties, a supplier of standard and specialty fasteners in Philadelphia, PA. The acquired firm will continue operations from its Philadelphia location under the name JPC Fasteners, an Austin Hardware Company. Austin Hardware is a supplier of specialty industrial and vehicular hardware.  ; More …
Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has purchased Weyerhaeuser Company‘s wholesale products distribution centers in Canada and established the distribution business as a standalone company named Broadleaf Logistics Company. Broadleaf distributes a wide range of building materials and is Platinum’s first Canada-based business.  ; More …
Allied Building Products Corp., East Rutherford, NJ, has acquired roofing materials distributor Spartan Supply Co., Culver City, CA. Spartan will move to a new facility in West Los Angeles. The acquisition provides Allied access to a high-end, niche market. It will also fill in logistical gaps.  ; More …
R & M Manufacturing Co., LLC, St. Louis Park, MN, has acquired Die Products Company, a stamping and tooling company in Fridley, MN. R & M Manufacturing is a sheet metal fabricator, specializing in custom, short and medium run sheet metal parts. More …
Activant Solutions Inc. has acquired Silk Systems Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary Silk Dimensions Systems Inc., computer software provider for the Canadian home improvement, wholesale distribution and building materials industries. The acquisition expands Activant‘s presence in the Canadian market while building on current technology and service offerings for customers across North America.More …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has acquired Diamond Productions Inc., Wayne, NJ, a manufacturer of superabrasive diamond and CBN wheels and tools for dimensioning and finishing hard-to-grind materials in metalworking, woodworking and stone fabrication markets.  ; More …
Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, distributor of bearings and related products, has combined its Applied Maintenance America and Fluid Power Connection catalogs, as well as added more than 10,000 new and expanded products. The catalog will be available in July 2007 and can be reserved online at www.applied.com/catalogrequest. More …
The Bossard Group, a global fastener distributor based in Switzerland, reported sales were up 6.7% in the first four months of 2007 compared with the same period a year ago. The distributor saw broadly based growth in Europe but sales in the U.S. fell by 10.9%. Bossard reported it had expected this decline, which confirmed a decrease in production previously announced by its customers. Sales in Europe
Private equity firm Audax Group has acquired industrial rubber distributor Lewis Goetz and Company Inc., Pittsburgh, PA. Lewis-Goetz operates from 48 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. It sells industrial, hydraulic, and metal hose, conveyer belts, gaskets and seals, and related accessories and services. Audax recently purchased UTEX Industries, Inc., Houston, TX, a manufacturer of complex gaskets and highly engineered seals. Lewis-Goetz with recently acquired Goodall Rubber Co. has more than $200 million in annual revenues. More …
Grainger, Chicago, IL, a $5.9 billion industrial distributor, announced its Lab Safety Supply subsidiary has acquired McFeely’s Square Drive Screws, Lynchburg, VA. McFeely’s, with sales of $9 million in 2006, is a business-to-business direct marketer of specialty fasteners, hardware and tools for the professional woodworking industry. McFeely’s will be marketed as an independent brand by LSS. More …
Pro-Build Holdings, Denver, CO, supplier of building materials to professional contractors, has purchased The Dunn Corporation, a Daytona Beach, FL-based distributor of lumber, millwork, building products and Overhead Door Company systems in Central and East Coast Florida. Dunn Lumber operates out of seven locations in the Central and Eastern Florida regions. More …
Radiac Abrasives, Salem, IL, has purchased Burlington, WA-based Bates Abrasives, Inc. Bates Abrasives, a full-line, resin-bonded cut-off and grinding wheel manufacturer will continue to be run by previous owner and CEO, Paul Anderson. The company employs 55 people. More …
JVA Partners has acquired Kennedy Manufacturing Company, Van Wert, OH. Kennedy manufactures industrial tool storage products and medical carts. In the first half of 2005, Kennedy had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. JVA Partners is a strategic investment company that has acquired a number of manufacturing companies throughout the Midwest. One of its holdings, HMC Holdings LLC dba Homak, is also in the tool storage business. More …
Trelleborg, Stockholm, Sweden, through the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions unit, has acquired precision bearing and sealing devices company Hydro-Components Research & Development Corporation, Streamwood, IL. The company has annual sales of SEK 50 million (US$7.2 million). Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has annual sales of SEK 5.4 billion (US$778M).  ; More …
Praxair Distribution, Inc., Danbury, CT, has acquired Wilson Welding & Medical Gases of Warren, MI. Wilson is a distributor of industrial, medical, specialty gases and related equipment and supplies. Wilson had sales of $20 million in 2006 and has 72 employees. Praxair, Inc. is a global industrial gases with 2006 sales of $8.3 billion.  ; More …
Construction spending during April 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,190.0 billion, 0.1 percent above the revised March estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. The April figure is 2 percent below the April 2006 estimate. During the first four months of this year, construction spending amounted to $345.1 billion, 2.5 percent below the $353.8 billion for the same period in 2006. More …
Economic activity in the
