Sumitomo Corp. has agreed to acquire Baton Rouge, LA-based distributor Edgen Group (NYSE: EDG), No. 11 on MDM’s list of the top 40 industrial distributors, for $12 per share in cash.
Edgen Group has two commercial brands, Edgen Murray and Bourland & Leverich, and had total sales of $2.1 billion in 2012 with 660 employees and operations in more than 35 locations in 18 countries. Edgen Murray is a global distributor of specialized steel products in the upstream (drilling and production in offshore environments), midstream (gathering, processing, fractionation, transportation and storage of oil and natural gas) and downstream (refining and petrochemical applications) end-markets for oil and natural gas.
Bourland & Leverich is a U.S. domestic oil country tubular goods distributor serving conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas exploration, including most recently the development of the shale industry, and has been in business since 1935.
“The investment in Edgen Group will represent further expansion of Sumitomo’s distribution presence across the upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas markets, and other related energy and infrastructure segments and will complement Sumitomo’s integrated supply solutions to the growing energy market,” said Kazuhiro Takeuchi, president and CEO, SCOA and SC General Manager for the Americas.
Dan O’Leary, president and CEO of Edgen Group, will continue to lead Edgen.
Sumitomo is a general trading company with 116 locations in 65 countries and 24 locations in Japan. The entire Sumitomo Corporation Group consists of nearly 800 companies and more than 70,000 personnel across diverse industries.
