On June 20, global electrical products distributor Sonepar announced that its U.S. subsidiaries, Crawford Electric and Irby Electric, will merge operations next year. The two companies are expected to operate on a combined basis under the Crawford name, Sonepar said in a news release.

Irby Utilities is expected to remain a separate business and will not be impacted by the change, the company said.

“Combining these two best-in-class operations under the single Crawford brand will create significant growth prospects across the entire footprint,” said Rob Taylor, President of Sonepar North America. “We expect a smooth transition over the course of the next year, one which will not impact our customers or the day-to-day work of associates of either Crawford or Irby Electric.”

The combined Crawford business will have full responsibility for serving contractors, installers and industrial customer base in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Florida panhandle, Tennessee and Texas.

The business also will focus on continued investment in logistics, branch coverage and acquisitions to “accelerate profitable growth and maintain its strong leadership position,” Sonepar said.

“We look forward to seeing what these two great teams will achieve as one,” Taylor said. “Both Irby Electric and Crawford have reputations for providing best in class customer service, and the union of these two great organizations will result in a best-in-class electrical distributor across the US South Central and Southeastern markets both companies currently serve. We are excited by the market strength, organizational talent, and value-added resources the combined company will deliver on behalf of associates, customers, and suppliers.”

Sonepar’s Crawford-Irby merger is the latest announcement in a wave of news that’s been coming from the company.

Earlier this month, Sonepar announced that another one of its U.S. subsidiaries, Cooper Electric, had agreed to acquire Billows Electric Supply, which offers electrical products and services to its customers in the Philadelphia, South New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware, metropolitan market.

In May, MDM spoke with North Coast President Cory McCulloch about the Seattle-based Sonepar subsidiary’s new distribution center in Auburn, Washington. The 285,000-square-foot consolidated distribution center is part of Sonepar’s $2 billion investment in supply chain automation worldwide.

Sonepar in April also said it had entered into an agreement to acquire Butler’s Electric Supply, a distributor of electrical and lighting products based in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Sonepar North America ranked No. 2 on MDM’s 2023 Top Distributor List for electrical, data & security distributors.