News
Breaking news in Wholesale Distribution
NorthEast Electrical Distributors/Eagle Electric Supply, a subsidiary of Sonepar USA, has agreed to buy Ralph Pill Electric Supply, Boston, MA.
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The company was established in 1919 by Ralph Pill, a Lithuanian immigrant. His son Alfred E. Pill has served as president for the past 50 years. RPESCO has 16 locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. RPESCO’s 2006 sales rank them as one of the largest independently-owned electrical distributors in New England and among the top 100 in the country.
They serve the residential, commercial and industrial markets.
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Ralph Pill Electric is known for its panel board shop, trade-marked Bee-Line Boards,” and its online lighting fixture fulfillment offering.
Don Block,  ; president of …
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy Sequa Corporation, a diversified manufacturer, for $2.7 billion.
Sequa Corporation has seven discrete operating units in the following industries: aerospace, automotive, metal coating, specialty chemical, industrial machinery, and other products.
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The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $58.5 billion under …
Regal Beloit Corporation, Beloit, WI, has agreed to buy the electric motor and blower businesses of Tecumseh Products Company. Regal Beloit will acquire the assets of the FASCO Residential/Commercial operations and the stock of the FASCO Asia/Pacific operations of Tecumseh (FASCO). Tecumseh’s FASCO Automotive/Specialty business is not part of this transaction.
The FASCO businesses that Regal Beloit is acquiring manufacture and market motors and blower systems for air moving applications including alternative fuels systems, water heaters and HVAC systems. Regal Beloit expects the acquired businesses to add $290 million of sales in 2008.
The transaction is valued at $220 million in cash.
Regal Beloit is a manufacturer of mechanical and electrical motion …
Watsco, Inc., Coconut Grove, FL, has agreed to buy ACR Group, Inc. for $6.75 a share in cash, a 42% premium to the 90-day average closing price. ACR is a $240 million distributor of air conditioning and heating products.
ACR, Houston, TX, operates from 54 locations serving over 12,000 air conditioning and heating contractors throughout Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada and New Mexico. ACR has 503 employees and distributes a full line of air conditioning and heating equipment and related parts and supplies of 20,000 SKUs.
ACR ranked #7 in Supply House Times magazine’s 2007 list of the top 50 HVAC distributors in the U.S.
Watsco is an independent distributor of air conditioning, heating and refrigeration …
Wolseley plc, distributor of plumbing and heating products to contractors and a supplier of building materials, has made five bolt-on acquisitions. In a full year, these bolt-on acquisitions are expected to add about 28 million pounds to total revenue.
Since Aug. 1, 2006, the start of Wolseley’s financial year, a total of 41 bolt-on acquisitions in Europe and North America have been completed. These 41 acquisitions are expected to add approximately 656 million pounds (US$1,312 million) to Group revenue in a full year.
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In addition, on Sept. 25, 2006, Wolseley plc completed the acquisition of DT Group, which brings aggregate acquisition spend for the year to 1,713 million pounds (US$3,426 million).
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North America
On May 14, …
Praxair Distribution, Inc., Danbury, CT, a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., has acquired Wilson Welding & Medical Gases, Warren, MI. Wilson is a distributor of industrial, medical, specialty gases and related equipment and supplies.
Wilson operates a cylinder filling plant and retail store in Warren, retail stores in Macomb and Pontiac, and a beverage CO2 business in Flint, MI. The business generated sales of $20 million in 2006 and has 72 employees.
The addition of Wilson to our existing network in Southeastern Michigan further strengthens Praxair’s ability to serve customers throughout the Great Lakes region,” said Praxair Distribution President Wayne Yakich.
Yakich said Praxair looks forward to building on the strong business foundation established by …
Rexel, the Paris-based distributor of electrical supplies, has made three acquisitions in Belgium, the United Kingdom and the U.S. The moves follow Rexel’s bolt-on acquisition strategy aimed at broadening its footprint in Europe and North America.
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U.S.: Tri-Valley Electric Supply
Tri-Valley Electric Supply is an electrical and datacom distributor that serves commercial and industrial segments in Arizona. Tri-Valley posted 2006 sales of US$5.5 million (& euro; 4M) and has 15 employees.
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Belgium: Boutet
Boutet is a distributor of electrical supplies in Eastern Belgium with sales of & euro; 18 million (US$24.5M) in 2006 and 50 employees. Through this acquisition, Rexel Belgium, which already has 26 branches, will further …
Parker Hannifin Corporation, Cleveland, OH, supplier of motion and control technologies, has acquired Mitos Technologies, Inc.  ;
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Mitos manufactures fluid-handling products and systems designed specifically to meet the high purity requirements of the biotech industry, including tubing and hose, valves, pumps and molded components.  ;
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Mitos had revenues of $5.5 million in 2006 and employs 40 people at its headquarters in Phoenixville, PA.
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The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during May 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,176.6 billion, 0.9 percent above the revised April estimate. The May figure is 2.8 percent (& plusmn; 2.2%) below the May 2006 estimate of $1,210.0 billion.
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During the first five months of this year, construction spending amounted to $442.1 billion, 3.9 percent (& plusmn; 1.8%) below the $460.1 billion for the same period in 2006.
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Private Construction
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $892.1 billion, 0.5 percent above the revised April estimate of $887.6 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $549.0 billion …
Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Lehner & Martin, Inc, a Santa Ana, CA-based industrial gas and welding supply distributor with branches in Placentia, Gardena, and Chino, CA. L & M had sales of more than $13 million in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007.
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The operations have been integrated into Airgas West, one of the regional companies that make up Airgas’ distribution business.
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The transaction was the fifth acquisition completed since the start of Airgas’ fiscal 2008 on April 1, 2007, with acquired sales now topping $378 million, including the Linde U.S. packaged gas acquisition announced earlier.
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Airgas, Inc. is a U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, and hardgoods, such as welding equipment and supplies. …
