April came and went as another solid month of M&A activity in the industrial, commercial and building supply wholesale distribution sectors that MDM covers — though we’ve seen a steady deceleration in the amount of monthly deals since the end of last year.

During April, MDM posted news briefs about 27 completed or pending deals involving distributors, or manufacturers that sell into the channel. We also had one on a deal involving a consultancy well-known to the distribution community, though we’re not including that in our official monthly count. Unlike March, April didn’t have any blockbuster deals announced.

That 27 figure is another healthy mark by recent historical standards, but trailed the counts of 28, 31, and 37 in the previous three months. The past few months have been a considerable slowdown since we saw 40 deals in December 2023. For further context, we posted news of 40 deals in April 2023.

Is this an actual industrial distribution slowdown trend tied to a persistent industrial demand softness, or just an outlier stretch? We’ll likely need at least 1-2 more months to better gauge that.

Find our rundown of April M&A news below, mostly in reverse chronological order and separated by distributors and manufacturers.

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Distributors (24)

NEFCO Acquires Unicoa in Phoenix: With the addition of Southwest Fastener in 2023 and now Unicoa, NEFCO is one of the largest local construction supply distributors in Phoenix.

Vallen Completes $350M Acquisition of Wesco Integrated Supply: The sale includes predominately all of Wesco’s industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) integrated supply business in North America and Europe.

MCE Acquires Daughtridge Sales in North Carolina: The addition of the pressure and temperature instrumentation product distributor will expand MCE’s flow control footprint in the mid-Atlantic.

ABC Supply Enters Ontario Market, Acquires Herman’s Supply: The addition of roofing supply distributor Herman’s Supply Company adds 11 Ontario locations and one in New York to ABC Supply.

Sonepar Acquires Rockwell Distributor Electrozad in Ontario: Electrozad, founded in 1955, is an authorized distributor of Rockwell Automation. Headquartered in Windsor, Ontario, Electrozad’s presence spans across the province with branches in Windsor, London, Sarnia and Chatham. The company has over 100 associates.

OTC Industrial Technologies Acquires Allied Sales & Service: Industrial equipment distributor and service provider OTC Industrial Technologies has acquired Allied Allied Sales & Service — a full-service provider of pumps and mechanical seals based in LePlace, LA.

Reliance Acquires 2 Fellow Metals Service Centers: Adding American Alloy Steel and MidWest Materials nets Reliance nearly $400 million in annual revenues.

AFC Industries’ TFC Acquires UK-Based O-Ring Supplier: West Chester, OH-based industrial supply and fasteners distributor AFC Industries‘ England-based business unit TFC has added O-ring and seal capacity with the acquisition of Supaseal — which supplies a range of O-rings, rotary shaft seals, bonded seals, circlips and associated products to customers in the U.K., Europe, U.S., and the Middle and Far East.

White Cap Expands Rebar Operations with Crimson Steel Supply Acquisition: Atlanta-based construction and safety supplies distributor White Cap acquired Crimson Steel Supply, an Oklahoma-based distributor and fabricator of engineered steel rebar and structural steel products serving non-residential and infrastructure end markets.

HVAC Distributor Shearer Acquires Climatic Comfort Products: To expand its reach across the Southeast U.S., Dallas-based independent HVAC distributor Shearer Supply has acquired Climatic Comfort Products (CCP), the HVAC distribution subsidiary of The Climatic Corp.

Meritus Grows Gas Distribution, Marks Three Acquisitions: The deals included A-OX (Sioux Falls, SD) and A&B Welding Supply Co. (Rapid City, SD) and Advanced Gases & Equipment (Sacramento, CA).

Imperial Dade Acquires Harbour Food Service Near Boston: Based near Boston in Chelsea, MA, Harbour is a distributor of equipment and supplies to independent restaurants, local chains and a variety of corporate, educational and government institutions. It’s the seventh deal of 2024 for Imperial Dade.

Martin Supply Acquires Trinity Hardware in Southeast WI: MROP supplies distributor Martin Supply (Florence, AL) has expanded its reach in the U.S. Midwest via the acquisition of Waukesha, WI-based Trinity Hardware Headquarters from Agrisolutions

Resideo to Acquire Snap One in $1.4B Deal, Boosting ADI Unit: Scottsdale, AZ-based Resideo has reached an agreement to buy Charlotte, NC and Draper, UT-based Snap One — a like manufacturer and distributor of A/V, networking, surveillance, power and structured wiring products for connected homes and businesses. Snap One will then integrate into ADI Global Distribution — a major distributor of security, AV and low-voltage products.

Beacon Grows in Midwest, Acquires General Siding Supply: Building materials distributor Beacon has further expanded its presence in the U.S. Midwest via the acquisition of Omaha, NE-based General Siding Supply.

White Cap Acquires Bend Construction Supply in Oregon: Specialty construction and safety products distributor White Cap acquired Bend Construction Supply, boosting the company’s presence in the U.S. Northwest.

Purvis Industries Acquires PTE Drives in Akron: Bearings and power transmission products distributor Purvis Industries has strengthened its presence in the heart of the U.S. rust belt with the acquisition of PTE Drives — a single-location distributor in Akron, OH.

Taiwan’s WT Microelectronics Completes $3.8B Acquisition of Future Electronics: Taipei, Taiwan-based WT Microelectronics announced April 2 that its $3.8 billion purchase of Montreal, Canada-based fellow electronic components distributor Future Electronics is now complete. It cements WT as a global electronics distribution force, now dual-headquartered in Taipei and Montreal.

Distributors TopBuild, SPI Nix Acquisition Deal: Insulation and building materials products distributors TopBuild and Specialty Products and Insulation (SPI) have mutually agreed to terminate their originally-announced acquisition from July 27, 2023. Back then, the deal was valued at $960 million.

Rexel Acquires Itesa in Italy: The company said that it reached a deal at the end of April to acquire Itesa, a France-based distributor of electronic security equipment — specializing in video and alarm products. Itesa had 2023 sales of approximately $83 million across its 15 branch locations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Venturi Supply Acquires Monumental Supply in Maryland: Baltimore-based industrial PVF distributor Monumental is was the Venturi’s (Phoenix) first acquisition since it was formed by Trive Capital at the end of 2023.

Manufacturers (3)

Italy’s Prysmian to Buy Encore Wire in $4.2B Deal: Major cable manufacturer Prysmian will grow its North American presence with the acquisition of Encore Wire, a well-known U.S. wire and cable maker that sells through distribution.

Schneider Electric, Bentley Systems Discussing Potential Deal: Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal noted April 19 that family-operated Bentley has a market value of approximately $15.6 billion and that the Bentley family isn’t operated in an outright sale. Discussions have reportedly focused on potentially merging Schneider’s software business with Bentley.

Vickers Engineering Merges with Netform: Two automotive parts makers have merged to diversify the customer base for their precision machined parts and flow- and cold-formed products.

Other (1)

ITR Economics Acquired by Fellow Consultancy Crowe: ITR is well-known by distributors from its keynote presentations at industry conferences that regularly feature economist Alan Beaulieu and others from the ITR team.

What’d We Miss?

Of course, the list above doesn’t encompass every M&A deal announced during April for relevant distributors and manufacturers. There will always be deals that weren’t on our radar. If you don’t see one here you think should be included, please let us know at editor@mdm.com.

• Here’s our March M&A Roundup
• Here’s our February M&A Roundup
• Here’s our January M&A Roundup
• Here’s our 2023 M&A Recap (Premium)