Keep on top of the latest acquisitions on MDM’s M&A news page, which lists all news articles on acquisitions in distribution and manufacturing that MDM reports at mdm.com. This new monthly blog will provide a digest of M&A activity from the previous month.
The distribution M&A climate continued to heat up in April, with several deals from some of the largest regional and national distributors.
Canada was a big target, as DXP Enterprises expressed its plans to continue growing there after its recent acquisition of Alberta-based National Process Equipment.
MSC Industrial Supply completed its purchase of Barnes Distribution North America, also expanding its reach in Canada. Read more about the impact of the MSC-Barnes deal.
Some of the other big deals reported in April 2013:
- International Paper is exploring a merger of xpedx, its distribution business, and Unisource Worldwide Inc. Both are distributors of printing, packaging and facility supplies. Under the deal, International Paper would contribute xpedx to a newly formed corporation, which would be merged with Unisource. The new company would be a publicly traded corporation.
- US LBM Holdings acquires Shelly Enterprises, marking the building products distributor’s ninth acquisition since 2010.
- WinWholesale has acquired fire sprinkler systems fabricator West Coast Associates in Tampa, FL, which will now operate as West Coast Winsupply.
- Lab equipment and instruments distributor Thermo Fisher Scientific made a big move, with the agreement to acquire Life Technologies for $13.6 billion, which according to a May 1 report marked the largest acquisition year-to-date in the life sciences arena.
- VWR International, distributor of laboratory supplies, expanded via acquisition in the UK and in Turkey.
Catch up with more deals in distribution and manufacturing at our M&A news page.
