One of the biggest M&A stories of October was the agreed-upon sale of Anixter International, Glenview, Illinois, to an affiliate of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. The transaction has been valued at $3.8 billion and will result in Anixter becoming a private company. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

“We believe this transaction is in the best interest of Anixter and our stockholders,” said Bill Galvin, Anixter’s president and CEO. “After careful and thorough analysis, together with our independent advisors, our Board of Directors unanimously approved this transaction with CD&R, which has a strong reputation and a track record of success in helping industrial distributors, like Anixter, prosper and grow.”

Anixter also reported third-quarter sales of $2.2 billion, up 2% compared to the third quarter of 2018. Organic sales grew 2.6%. Net income increased 25% to $59.3 million, the company said.

During the month Genuine Parts Company also completed the previously announced sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary EIS Inc., the Electrical Specialties Group of Motion Industries, to Audax Private Equity. 

"We are very pleased to complete the sale of EIS and take another step forward in our strategy to optimize our portfolio. We want to thank the entire EIS team, whose hard work and dedication made this transaction possible," said Paul Donahue, chairman and CEO of GPC.

Follow the links below for more October M&A news.

• Rockwell Automation Acquires MESTECH Services
• Salsify Acquires B2B E-commerce Consultancy B2X Partners
• Foundation Building Materials Acquires Wallboard Supply and The Supply Guy
• U.S. LBM Holdings Acquires Forge Lumber
• Genuine Parts Completes Sale of EIS to Audax
• Motion Canada Acquires Fluid Power Company
• Epicor Acquires 1 EDI Source
• Martin Inc. Acquires SafetyWear
• SKF to Acquire Industrial AI Company
• Painters Supply & Equipment Acquires D&S Color Supply
• 3M Completes Acquisition of Acelity
• Triad Technologies Acquires Day Fluid Power
• Tosca Agrees to Acquire Polymer Logistics
• SRS Distribution Acquires Roofers Supply, Inc. of Utah
• Carlisle Companies to Acquire Draka Sileca & Providien LLC
• Brady Acquires MASSCO
• Anixter International to be Acquired by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice