United Stationers to Buy ORS Nasco for $180M

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November 15, 2007

United Stationers to Buy ORS Nasco for $180M

United Stationers Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary, United Stationers Supply Co., Deerfield, IL, has agreed to acquire ORS Nasco Holding Inc., an affiliate of Brazos Private Equity Partners, LLC, for $180 million. ORS Nasco, Muskagee, OK, is a master distributor of industrial supplies, selling exclusively to independent distributors.

The company has annual sales of $285 million. ORS Nasco offers about 200,000 branded and private-label products from over 600 manufacturers. ORS Nasco sells to more than 10,000 independent distributors in multiple channels, including industrial, MRO (maintenance, repair and operations), safety, construction, welding, and oilfield services.

ORS Nasco serves its highly diverse customer base through eight distribution centers across the U.S.

“Acquiring ORS Nasco will diversify our product offering and provide us entry into the estimated $22 billion wholesale industrial supplies market,” said Richard W. Gochnauer, president and CEO of United Stationers. “We see many parallels to our Lagasse business, which has been our fastest growing category. Lagasse has grown from approximately $80 million to nearly $1 billion over the last 10 years. We believe that ORS Nasco provides a similar platform for profitable growth.

United Stationers is a $4.5 billion master distributor of business products and offers 46,000 product lines from 550 manufacturers, including technology products, office products, office furniture, janitorial and breakroom supplies. The company has a network of 62 distribution centers. Its customers include more than 22,000 resellers, including office superstores, office furniture dealers, mass merchandisers, mail-order companies, sanitary supply distributors, drug and grocery store chains, contract stationers and others.

"The partnership with United Stationers is the perfect fit for our customers and our organization," said Bill Scheller, president and CEO of ORS Nasco. "Their commitment to the pure wholesale model and the independent distributor make them an ideal match for our business. The scale and capabilities that they bring to our partnership will enable us to provide additional value to our customers and achieve faster growth and greater profitability."

Randall S. Fojtasek, a Brazos Partner, said: “ORS Nasco has been an outstanding investment for Brazos and was the first investment made in our second fund. With annual sales of approximately $285 million in 2007, ORS Nasco’s EBITDA has increased by more than 50% during Brazos’ two-year investment period.”

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