March both came in and went out like a lamb, at least in terms of distribution merger-and-acquisition activity, with the month's loudest roar only a rumor for now.
Builders FirstSource, Dallas, TX, plans to purchase ProBuild Holdings Inc., Denver, CO, for $1.5 billion, according to a recent report from Reuters, which cited "people familiar with the matter." The move would fit Builders FirstSource's recent acquisitive streak – the company has bought five companies since the middle of last year – and it also furthers consolidation in the building materials sector, which again saw a busy month in M&A.
Building products distributor ABC Supply Co. Inc., Beloit, WI, made two deals in March. It acquired the exterior building products division of The Ar-Jay Center in Cedar Rapids, IA, and it acquired Western Roofing Supply Company Inc., Minneapolis, MN.
Distributor US LBM Holdings LLC, Green Bay, WI, acquired Lampert Lumber, St. Paul, MN, while Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles, CA-based global private equity firm, agreed to acquire PrimeSource Building Products Inc., Irving, TX, from Tokyo, Japan-based Itochu Corp.
In other sectors, Wolseley plc and its U.S. subsidiary, Ferguson, each made acquisitions last month. Wolseley acquired a "substantial shareholding" in BathEmpire.com, a B2C online bathroom retailer in the United Kingdom, with an option to acquire the remaining equity stake at a future date. And Ferguson pulled off two acquisitions, buying Redlon & Johnson, a division of The Gage Company, and also buying Equarius Inc.
Sonepar continued its busy start to 2015 by acquiring four companies in March: Alfa Elektriciteit, Van Egmond Group, Electrical Distributors and QED.
And Saint-Gobain last month moved one step closer to its proposed takeover of Sika.
Here are other key deals that occurred in March 2015:
Graybar to Acquire Advantage Industrial Automation
Arrow Electronics to Acquire immixGroup
DGI Supply Acquires East Metro Supply
Jason Industries to Acquire Herold Partco Assets
RBC Bearings to Acquire Sargent Aerospace & Defense
IPH Group Forms Joint Venture with Italian Distributor
