be complementary to Schneider’s building automation platform. Invensys Building Systems had $142 million in sales in the fiscal year ended Mar. 31, 2006.
Universal Forest Products, Inc., Grand Rapids, MI, announced its subsidiary has acquired Dura-Bilt Mfg. Co., a roof and floor truss manufacturer based in Riverbank, CA. Dura-Bilt’s 2005 sales were approximately $16 million. The purchase will expand Universal’s manufacturing capacity in the Northern California market, allowing Universal to serve national and regional home builders in the area. More …
Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA, has agreed to purchase the Sintec Group, Buching, Germany. The purchase of Sintec, which manufactures ceramic engineered components used in the aerospace, general engineering, metallizing and medical markets, complements Kennametal’s core knowledge of materials science. The Sintec Group was founded in 1980 and has operations in Germany, Switzerland, China, the UK, and in Bridgeport, CT, in the U.S. The company employs about 200 people. More …
Parker Hannifin Corporation reported increases in orders for the month of April in the company’s Industrial, Aerospace, and Climate and Industrial Control segments. Orders for the North American Industrial business were up 13 percent over the same month last year. Industrial markets remain strong in North American and Rest-of-World, including MRO, construction, mining, oil and gas, power generation and semiconductor. Aerospace orders increased 18 percent on a rolling 12-month basis. Commercial OEM and MRO markets remain strong. In Climate and Industrial Controls, order rates went up 19 percent compared to last year, lead by heavy duty truck, commercial refrigeration, and air conditioning.
Canadian wholesale sales rose 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2006. The increase was attributable in part to the strong showing of the automotive products sector, which posted a quarterly growth rate of 5.4 percent. The machinery and electronic equipment and building materials sectors also registered solid gains, 5 percent and 3.6 percent respectively. Since September 2003, total wholesale sales have been rising in Canada, with strength in most trade groups. More …
Construction spending cooled slightly in April, down 0.1 percent from the March estimate of a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,197.3 billion. The April figure is 8.5 percent above the April 2005 estimate of $1,102.1 billion. During the first four months of the year, construction spending amounted to $349.3 billion, 8.9 percent above the same period last year. Private residential construction (down 1.1 percent from March) was offset by nonresidential construction, which rose 2.5 percent from March. Public construction fell 0.2 percent. More …
Another indication the housing market is cooling, Pulte Homes Inc. said its preliminary net new orders for April and May 2006 were down 29 percent from the same two-month period in 2005. Says the company’s CEO, Richard J. Dugas Jr.: “Demand has been impacted by a number of factors including an increase in available inventory of new and existing homes, higher cancellation rates and higher interest rates. Given constrained land supplies and favorable population trends, we remain positive on the long-term demand conditions for the industry, but believe it is appropriate to adjust shorter-term expectations given the current sales environment.”
April U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $255.13 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 27.7 percent from March but up 6.8 percent from the total of $238.85 million reported for April 2005. With a year-to-date total of $1,103.76 million, 2006 was up 18.5 percent compared with 2005. More …
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.2 percent in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed a 0.9-percent jump in April and a 0.5-percent advance in March. Prices for intermediate materials except for foods and energy rose 1.1 percent compared with a 0.4 percent gain in April. More …
Interline Brands, Inc., a national distributor and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products, has agreed to acquire substantially all of American Sanitary Incorporated, a national distributor of janitorial and sanitary supplies for a cash purchase price of $127.5 million. The acquisition is expected to close in July 2006, subject to customary closing conditions. Interline has received debt financing commitments from Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan. American Sanitary is one of the largest national distributors in the $23 billion U.S. janitorial and sanitary maintenance supply industry. The company offers more than 40,000 products to more than 50,000 customers from 46 locations in 40 states. More …
Rexnord Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, a manufacturer of precision motion technology products, announced that an affiliate of the private equity firm, Apollo Management, agreed to buy RBS Global, Inc., the corporate parent of Rexnord, for $1.825 billion from private equity firm The Carlyle Group and management. In 2002, Invensys plc, London, England, sold Rexnord to The Carlyle Group for $880 million. More …
DXP Enterprises Inc. has acquired Production Pump and Machine Tech, companies that specialize in pumping equipment for oilfields, pipelines, and municipalities. DXP paid about $10.1 million for the acquired businesses and assumed about $0.4 million worth of debt. The acquired businesses specialize in package pump equipment, fluid handling design and pump maintenance, repairs and services. Combined sales for the 12 months ending Apr. 30, 2006, were $12.5 million. More …
The RG Group, York, PA, has acquired hydraulics distributor Powertech Motion Control Inc. Powertech, focused on New England and the Mid Atlantic U.S., will operate as a division of the RG Group. Powertech will continue to operate out of its headquarters in Mahwah, NJ, and to operate its three Parker stores in New Jersey and New York. By joining the RG Group, Powertech will gain access to increased capabilities in marketing and value-added engineering systems manufacturing, power unit manufacturing, cylinder repair and manufacturing. More …
Heritage Partners, Inc., Boston, MA, a private equity firm focused on family-owned businesses, has made an investment in OneSource Distributors Inc. OneSource is a family-owned electrical distribution company in Southern California. The transaction was structured as a Heritage Partners Private IPO, allowing the shareholders to receive liquidity, capital for growth and retain control of the firm. Oceanside, CA-based OneSource operates through three regional sales divisions and had 2005 sales of about $170 million. More …
Anixter International, Glenview, IL, has acquired IMS Inc., a wire and cable distributor to OEM and electronic services companies, for $28.5 million in cash. For the year 2005, IMS had sales of $36 million, primarily in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. More …
Private investment firm Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire for $630 million Textron Fastening Systems, Troy, MI, a global provider of fastening technologies and services to customers in a broad range of industries. The seller is Textron Inc., which announced in late 2005 that it would sell the $1.8 billion revenue unit as part of a strategic divestiture of non-core manufacturing businesses. The new business will be renamed. Textron Fastening Systems serves the aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, industrial equipment and non-automotive transportation industries. More …
Commercial Solutions Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, has acquired Excel Bearings Inc., a $3.5 million revenue Ontario-based distribution company with 10 employees and locations in Waterloo and Cambridge, Ontario. Commercial reported total revenue for the 2005 fiscal year of $97.8 million. Excel is a bearing and power transmission specialist with a strong regional presence in the Southern Ontario market and provides Commercial with an increased Eastern presence. More …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire the safety business of POMP Medical and Occupational Health Products LLC, a provider of products such as earplugs, eyewear, and hand creams, based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, including related trademarks and patents. Combined with 3M’s line of hearing protection products, including disposable earplugs, the acquisition of POMP reusable earplugs allows 3M to offer a broader portfolio of hearing protection products. More …
Steel giant Arcelor, of Luxembourg, and Severstal, the largest Russian steel company, announced they have agreed to merge, creating the world’s largest steel company in a US$16.6 billion deal. The combined company will rank among the world’s most competitive steelmaking and resource assets in both developed and emerging markets.. The transaction values Arcelor at EUR23 billion (US$29.4 billion). Together Arcelor and Severstal will have EUR46 billion in sales (US$58.4 billion) and 70 million tonnes of production, based on each company’s pro forma 2005 results. More …
SKF plans to acquire Austrian industrial seals company Economos Austria GmbH. Economos’ Group sales for the year ending December 2005 were 77 million euros (US$97.7 million). The company employs 899. Economos’ main market is Western Europe. Economos manufactures hydraulic and pneumatic seals and has more than 20 subsidiaries globally. SKF has also signed a letter of intent to sell its German forging business (2005 sales of $89.7 million) to Johann Hay GmbH & Co KF, one of the largest privately held forging companies in Germany. More …
Sandvik, Stockholm, Sweden, has signed an agreement with Major Drilling Group International Inc., Canada, to acquire the business and assets of the Australian company UDR Group, including its business units in Australia and Chile. UDR Group is a manufacturer and supplier of surface mineral exploration drill rigs. UDR Group reported sales for the last business year of about SEK 275 M (US$35.5M) and has approximately 100 employees. The purchase price for the transaction was $34.0 million on a cash and debt free basis, subject to customary working capital related post closing adjustments. More …
Schneider Electric will acquire Invensys Building Systems operations in North America and Asia for $296 million in cash. The acquisition follows the purchase of Invensys Advanced Building Systems in July 2005. The acquisition is expected to
