MDM News Digest 3418

Barnes Group Inc., Bristol, CT, has acquired DE-STA-CO Manufacturing, Troy, MI, a manufacturer of reed valves and shock discs, for $16.9 million in cash. DE-STA-CO was formerly an operating division of Dover Resources Inc., a subsidiary of Dover Corporation. The acquisition adds $28 million in annualized sales to Barnes Group Inc.'s Associated Spring unit. DE-STA-CO has a total of five manufacturing locations, three in Michigan, and one each in Thailand and the United Kingdom. See article on p. 3 this section.

Standard Electric Supply Co., Milwaukee, WI, an electrical and automation equipment distributor, purchased Industrial Engineering & Equipment Co., Wood Dale, IL. It will combine operations with DynaTech LLC, Elk Grove Village, IL, which Standard acquired last year. Standard Electric Supply has nine locations in Wisconsin and northern Illinois, with 100 employees and sales of $43 million.

Private equity firm The Riverside Company, New York, NY, specializing in investments at the smaller end of the middle market, has acquired United Central Industrial Supply Company, LLC, Bristol, VA, the largest, full-service distributor of consumable coal mining supplies in the U.S. United has more than 43,000 SKUs with products including roof control products, underground mining bits, conveyor belt and idlers, oil products and various MRO items. UCIS distributes products to 400 of the 540 underground and surface coal mines in the U.S. The company maintains 17 distribution centers around the country and a product service center in Rocky Gap, VA. See article on p. 4 of this section.

Precision Castparts Corp., Portland, OR, has decided to sell the pump and valve businesses of its Fluid Management Products segment, with the exception of the E/One sewer and detection system operation, and will move these businesses into discontinued operations in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. In the first quarter of fiscal 2005, the discontinued pump and valve businesses contributed $70.7 million of sales and $3.1 million of operating income. In a related transaction, Sulzer Pumps Ltd., Winterthur, Switzerland, has agreed to acquire the pump businesses, which include the Johnston, PACO, and Crown product lines, in a cash transaction valued at approximately $36.0 million. See article on p. 2 of this section.

Danaher Corporation, Washington, DC, has agreed with Trojan Technologies Inc., London, Ontario, to make a cash tender offer to acquire all of the shares of Trojan for an aggregate price of US$185 million, including transaction costs and net of cash acquired. Trojan, with annual revenues of approximately USD$100 million, is a manufacturer of water treatment solutions using ultraviolet technologies. Trojan is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The acquisition of Trojan brings another brand name to Danaher's Environmental Process Controls platform and broadens its footprint in water quality into the water disinfection segment.

Following the sale of its BOC stores to Airgas, international industrial gases producer and distributor The BOC Group plans to increase its focus on its independent distributor channel and has identified opportunities for improvement following a Distributor Advisory Council meeting in Saratoga, NY. BOC has a nationwide network of 150 distributors who serve a $1 billion market in some 500 locations. Representatives from BOC and 11 of its key distributors from around the U.S. met to discuss improving the supplier - distributor relationship. See article on p. 4 of this section.

Jaco Electronics, Inc., Hauppauge, NY, a distributor of electronic components to original equipment manufacturers, has completed the sale of its non-core contract manufacturing subsidiary, Nexus Custom Electronics, Inc., Brandon, VT, to Sagamore Holdings, Inc. for $12.0

July U.S. machine tool consumption, $243.09 million, was down 12.7% from June but up 77.1% from the total of $137.23 million reported for July 2003, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology. With a year-to-date total of $1,585.56 million, 2004 is up 39.3% compared with 2003.

Worth noting: "The long manufacturing recession and recovery is over," said Daniel J. Meckstroth, Chief Economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI. "The Federal Reserve revised upward the July 2004 figure for manufacturing production to a level that exceeded the June 2000 pre-recession peak in manufacturing production. It has taken 49 months to recoup the June 2000 pre-recession manufacturing production level. August's 0.5 percent gain in manufacturing output confirms that the manufacturing sector is back in the expansion mode," he added. "A sharp decline in electric utility production moderated the gain in overall industrial production. Electric utility production is very volatile on a month-to-month basis and will return to growth when the weather dictates."