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Activant Solutions Inc. has acquired Silk Systems Inc., including its wholly-owned subsidiary Silk Dimensions Systems Inc., computer software provider for the Canadian home improvement, wholesale distribution and building materials industries.
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The acquisition expands Activant's presence in the Canadian market while building on current technology and service offerings for customers across North America.
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Hardware and home improvement centers, lumber and building materials and wholesale distribution are all key growth markets for Activant and are part of our larger corporate strategy of supporting customers across North America, including Canada," said Pervez Qureshi, CEO of Activant Solutions.
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Silk Systems offers a business management ERP ...

Grainger, Chicago, IL, industrial distributor, announced its Lab Safety Supply subsidiary has acquired McFeely's Square Drive Screws, Lynchburg, VA. McFeely's, with sales of $9 million in 2006, is a business-to-business direct marketer of specialty fasteners, hardware and tools for the professional woodworking industry.

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This acquisition will enable LSS to further penetrate the woodworking and construction markets," said Chairman and CEO Richard Keyser.
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McFeely's will be marketed as an independent brand by LSS. It serves more than 70,000 customers including woodworkers, handymen, home improvement professionals, construction companies and cabinet makers.
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Grainger had 2006 sales of $5.9 billion. It has 600 branches, 18 distribution centers ...
Radiac Abrasives, Salem, IL, has purchased Burlington, WA-based Bates Abrasives, Inc. Bates Abrasives, a full-line, resin-bonded cut-off and grinding wheel manufacturer will continue to be run by previous owner and CEO, Paul Anderson. The company employs 55 people.
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The company will retain the Bates brand name with rough grinding target markets including forestry, natural stone, steel mills, foundries and metal fabrication. In addition to cut-off and grinding wheels, the company manufactures organic surface grinding segments, cylinders, nut-inserted disc wheels, flaring cups and cones and plugs.&nbsp ;

Radiac Abrasives is a manufacturer of bonded abrasive and superabrasive grinding ...
Trelleborg, Stockholm, Sweden, through the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions unit, has acquired precision bearing and sealing devices company Hydro-Components Research & Development Corporation, Streamwood, IL. The company employs 80 and has annual sales of SEK 50 million (US$7.2 million).
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HCRD manufactures high-precision components, focusing on large diameter seals and bearings.
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The acquisition helps Trelleborg expand in North America within the heavy duty vehicle segment.
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Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has annual sales of SEK 5.4 billion (US$778 million). It has production units in Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Poland, Sweden, the UK and the U.S.
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Trelleborg is a global industrial group ...
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in May for the fourth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 67th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.
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The PMI rose to its highest level in the past 12 months. Both the New Orders and Production Indexes indicated growth. The ISM Inventories Index indicates that manufacturers are now in their 10th month of inventory reduction. A major concern of respondents is the rate of price increases covering a wide variety of ...
Praxair Distribution, Inc., a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, has acquired Wilson Welding & Medical Gases of Warren, MI. Wilson is a distributor of industrial, medical, specialty gases and related equipment and supplies.
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Wilson operates a cylinder filling plant and retail store in Warren, retail stores in Macomb and Pontiac, and a beverage CO2 business in Flint, Michigan. The business generated sales of $20 million in 2006 and has 72 employees.
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Praxair, Inc. is a global industrial gases with 2006 sales of $8.3 billion. The company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric and process gases, and high-performance surface coatings. Praxair products, services and technologies bring productivity and environmental benefits to a wide variety of ...

Real gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. - increased at an annual rate of 0.6% in the first quarter 2007, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.


The estimate is based on more complete source data than advance data released last month, when the increase was estimated at 1.3%.


In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.5%.


The increase in GDP was offset by negative contributions from private inventory investment, residential fixed investment and federal government spending. Imports, a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, ...

Despite a soft first quarter, the U.S. economy should gradually improve through the end of the year, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Industrial Outlook, a report that analyzes 27 major industries.


Manufacturing industrial production expanded at a 0.9 percent annual rate in the first quarter 2007, but the MAPI forecast envisions an improved 3 percent growth rate in the second quarter.&nbsp ; For the year as a whole, though, the report predicts that manufacturing production growth will decelerate from the 4.7 percent recorded in 2006 to 2.1 percent growth in 2007, before rebounding to 3.3 percent growth in 2008.

The manufacturing inventory correction is over, the inexplicable decline in exports has passed, the January 1, 2007, EPA diesel ...
A Houston, TX, investor who alleged that private investment firm Key Principal Partners, LLC and corporate parent Key Corp. secretly cut him out of a 2003 deal to acquire one of Hawaii's largest lumber suppliers has won a $36.5 million jury verdict against the companies.


A Honolulu circuit court jury found late Wednesday that the Key defendants breached their fiduciary duties, intentionally interfered in investor Richard R. Foreman's attempts to acquire Honsador Lumber Corp, and violated Hawaii's unfair competition statute.

Foreman alleged that he and a group of investors that included Key Principal Partners, LLC formed a partnership in 2003 to buy Honsador for $28 million. According to the lawsuit, Key wrongfully withdrew from the partnership and then secretly ...

Canadian sawmill operations are suffering thanks to the recent downturn in residential construction in the U.S.

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Calling the recent downturn the worst this industry has seen in decades," Canfor Corporation, Vancouver, BC, Canada, announced it would close its Mackenzie sawmill indefinitely once the remaining log inventory at the facility has been processed.
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The move is part of a program to reduce costs to help the company weather the market downturn. Canfor is a forest products company with 33 facilities in Canada and the U.S. It is a producer of softwood lumber, and produces oriented strand board, plywood, remanufactured lumber products and specialized wood products.
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Home Channel News reported that Federated Co-operatives, which serves ...

Fletcher Building Limited, Auckland, New Zealand, has acquired Formica Corporation, Cincinnati, OH, for $700 million. Fletcher is a publicly traded material and construction company with revenues of US$4 billion.

The company has five operating units: Laminates & Panels, Building Products, Steel, Infrastructure and Distribution.

Formica will retain the South America operations and certain real estate in California.

Formica has 14 manufacturing and 33 distribution facilities across Asia, Europe and North America.


In the near term, Formica will be structured as a business unit within the Fletcher Building Laminates & Panels division. Frank Riddick will remain as president and CEO of Formica and the management team will remain with the ...
Revealing the profit challenges and opportunities in the power transmission/motion control industry, a recent report from the Power Transmission Distributors Association supports forecasts made by PTDA members in late 2005 of moderate growth in sales with no change in gross margins in 2006.
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The Power Transmission Distributors Association announced the results of its 2007 PT Distributor Performance Report, based on 2006 data.
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When asked in October 2005 to forecast sales for 2006, 44% of distributor respondents indicated that they expected sales to increase between 5% and 9.9%. The actual sales growth rate for a typical PTDA distributor, as reported in the 2007 PT Distributor Performance Report, fell right in the middle of that range, with sales growth in 2006 ...

Sun Capital Partners, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, private investment firm announced that one of its affiliates has acquired the automotive OEM fuel and fluid handling operations of Mark IV Industries, Inc., Amherst, NY/Airasca, Italy, which will operate under the name, Fluid Routing Solutions, Inc.
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FRS designs and manufactures highly-engineered fluid and fuel handling systems from six facilities in Florida, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee and Quebec. Products are sold to original equipment automotive manufacturers serving customers in North America, Europe, South America, Asia and the Pacific regions.
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Fuel system products include fuel filler assemblies, evaporation canisters, and coolant hoses primarily for original equipment channels. Fluid handling ...
Columbus McKinnon Corporation, Amherst, NY, manufacturer and marketer of material handling products, reported sales for its fiscal year 2007 ended on March 31, 2007, were $589.8 million, up 6.1%. Sales in the fourth quarter were 4156.9 million, up 6.8% from the year-ago period.
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Net income for fiscal 2007 was $34.1 million, compared with $59.8 million for fiscal 2006.
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Profit in the fourth quarter was $11.1 million, compared with $47.8 million in the same period a year ago. Profit in fiscal ...

Schneider Electric has agreed to acquire Ritto GmbH & Co Kg, a German firm that manufactures door entry and intercom systems for the residential and small tertiary buildings markets. Ritto had revenue of nearly 25 million euro in 2006.
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The company will be added to Schneider's offerings in Installation Systems and Control, which includes wiring devices, installation material, control products and VDI.
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Schneider has operations in 190 ...

Danaher Corporation has agreed to buy ChemTreat Inc., a provider of water treatment products and services, for $435 million in cash.
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Headquartered in Glen Allen, VA, and with revenues of over $200 million in its most recent completed fiscal year, ChemTreat serves a broad set of end markets with a particular focus on boiler, cooling water and industrial waste water applications.
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Danaher is a manufacturer of Professional Instrumentation, Medical Technologies, Industrial Technologies and Tools and ...

JH Larson Electrical Company, Plymouth, MN, has purchased Lappin Lighting, a full-service lighting showroom, Minneapolis, MN. Lappin serves the commercial and residential lighting markets.

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JH Larson serves the electrical, plumbing and HVAC residential and commercial markets. It has 240 employees in eight branches. It is in three ...
Rexnord LLC, Milwaukee, WI, supplier with two key platforms of power transmission and water management products, reported sales for fiscal 2007 grew 16.1% over the prior year to $1.3 billion. Power Transmission sales grew 9.7% to $1.18 billion.
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Sales in the fourth quarter grew 27.1% over the prior-year quarter to $386.1 million. PT sales grew 4.2% to $316.6 million. Waste Management sales were $69.5 million from acquisition date through March 31, 2007.
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Rexnord reported growth across many of its end markets; in its PT platform, mining, energy, aggregates and aerospace growth rates were above average. Slower growth rates were see in general industries and in forest products.
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Within Water Management, commercial construction continues to be solid, ...

The volume of mergers and acquisitions activity in distribution has increased substantially over the past 12 months. Along with a continued increase in interest from private equity firms, strategic buyers have reentered the fray, both in the U.S. and overseas. The market will likely plateau or even soften in the next year or so, especially in sectors affected by the downturn in residential construction. Right now though, the market is hot -maybe even too hot, according to some industry experts. What's more, an HD Supply spin-off could have an impact on valuations and provide opportunity to competitors of its diverse units.



HD Supply
Home Depot's potential spin-off of its $12-billion wholesale division -announced in February by the $90-billion ...

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