Keep on top of the latest acquisitions on MDM’s M&A news page, which lists all news articles on acquisitions in distribution and manufacturing that MDM reports at mdm.com. This monthly blog provides a digest of M&A activity from the previous month.
The pace of distribution M&A held steady in May, with announcements of a few smaller deals and a couple of overseas acquisitions.
Industrial and power transmission distributor IBT Industrial Solutions, Merriam, KS, acquired Sheppard Supply’s assets in Springfield, MO, in May. Sheppard Supply’s co-founder had died in 2002, and according to his sons Dennis and Stephen, there was never a logical successor.
“The existing team managed the store through the economic downturn of 2008, but then in 2012, the difficult decision was made to close the business and sell it,” Stephen Sheppard said. Sheppard Supply had five employees.
IBT said that the two companies connected through IDC, or Independent Distributors Cooperative; both are members. “This was a great match for us, because we are both long-standing, family-run businesses,” said Jeff Cloud, regional manager for IBT. “This merger made perfect sense.”
Cloud indicated that IBT would be continuing to look for more acquisitions as part of IBT’s growth strategy. “We’re very interested in making other purchases like this one,” he said, “and we are actively looking for other great pairings with independent industrial distributors.”
IBT has nearly 40 locations throughout the U.S.
Other announced deals in May 2013 included:
ABC Supply has expanded in Michigan, acquiring a single location in Flint and filling a gap between the building products distributor's locations in Saginaw and Detroit.
Kaman Industrial Technologies has agreed to acquire Northwest Hose & Fittings Inc., Spokane, WA, a Parker distributor. Kaman President Steve Smidler said the acquired company is in key markets Kaman did not previously reach.
DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ: DXPE), Houston, TX, continues to build out its portfolio, with an acquisition of Tucker Tool in May. The single-location $8 million distributor is focused on chemical, oil & natural gas, power generation, general engineering and transportation markets and supports DXP’s presence in the Northeast U.S.
Chemicals distributor Univar, Redmond, WA, acquired Quimicompuestos, a distributor of commodity chemicals in Monterrey, Mexico. The Mexican distributor is focused on oil & gas and coatings & adhesives markets.
Redistributor Bunzl plc has expanded in Australia with the acquisition of three businesses that form part of the Industrial & Safety division of Jeminex Limited. The three businesses include workwear and personal safety; lifting, rigging and height safety; and industrial packaging.
Catch up with more deals in distribution and manufacturing at our M&A news page.
