above the revised January estimate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. The February figure is 2.4 percent (& plusmn; 2.2 percent) below the February 2006 estimate. During the first 2 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $159.9 billion, 2.4 percent (& plusmn; 2.2 percent) below the $163.8 billion for the same period in 2006. More …&nbsp ;

The total investment in residential construction in Canada&nbsp ; in 2006 increased 8.5 percent to $79.8 billion compared with a year earlier. All three components comprising residential construction investment posted gains (new housing, renovation, and acquisition costs). This was the eighth consecutive annual increase and a record high value. &nbsp ; More& hellip; &nbsp ; &nbsp ;

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, MA, reported that Saint-Gobain Abrasives will close its Littleton, NH, manufacturing plant and move its operations to Mexico. The plant employs 43. It produces sharpening stones, abrasive sticks and microabrasive products. The closing is expected by the end of the year. More …&nbsp ;

Parker Hannifin, Cleveland, OH, has acquired Rectus AG, a manufacturer of quick disconnect couplings and related products for pneumatic, hydraulic, medical and chemical processing applications. The company had revenues of about $115 million in 2006. Rectus will operate within the Industrial North America and Industrial International segments of Parker’s global fluid connectors business.&nbsp ; More …&nbsp ;

US Components, Morristown, NJ, a truss and wall panel supplier and subsidiary of Pro-Build Holdings, has acquired Riverside Roof Truss, Home Channel News reported. Riverside Roof Truss, Danville, VA, is a high-volume maker of floor and roof trusses for Virginia and North Carolina area builders. The addition of Riverside expands US Components’reach from New York to South Carolina. More …&nbsp ;

Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH, has acquired UK-based Aphel Technologies Limited, a supplier to data centers, technical offices, laboratories and retail environments. In 2006, Aphel Technologies had sales of $12.3 million. Eaton Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturer with 2006 sales of $12.4 billion. More …&nbsp ;

UK-based Premier Farnell plc, a global distributor of electronic components and industrial products, has launched its business in China as Premier Electronics. It is focused on the local needs of China’s electronic design engineering community. With over 18,000 RoHS compliant products in stock now, three offices (and two more planned), and two warehouses, Premier will employ over 100 people by the end of the year in China. More …&nbsp ;

United States Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, has agreed to buy Lone Star Technologies, Inc., Dallas, TX, a manufacturer of welded oilfield tubular goods, for $67.50 per share in cash, or about $2.1 billion. The price is a premium of about 39 percent to Lone Star’s closing share price March 28, 2007. Lone Star Technologies, Inc. is a $1.4 billion holding company. Following the transaction, U. S. Steel will have annual North American tubular manufacturing capability of 2.8 million tons. More …&nbsp ;

Building Materials Holding Corporation, San Francisco, CA, announced its subsidiary, SelectBuild Construction, Inc. has acquired the remaining 27 percent of Riggs Plumbing LLC. Riggs provides turnkey rough and finish plumbing installation to high-volume residential builders in the Phoenix and Tucson markets and in 2006 had sales of $90 million.&nbsp ; More …&nbsp ;

VWR International, Inc., West Chester, PA, $3 billion supplier to the global research laboratory industry, has acquired the remaining 76 percent interest in KMF Laborchemie Handels GmbH, a German-based scientific laboratory supply distributor. KMF has 70 employees, all based in Germany, with annual revenues of US$45 million.More …&nbsp ;

Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has completed its acquisition of Strategic Distribution, Inc., MRO distributor to industrial and institutional customers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The acquisition is a public-to-private transaction and Strategic Distribution Inc. has been delisted from the NASDAQ exchange, with each share of common stock converted into the right to receive $10 in cash per share. Platinum Equity announced that Rudi Strobl has been appointed as CEO. More …&nbsp ;

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, &nbsp ; has agreed to buy a significant part of the U.S. packaged gas business of Linde AG for $310 million in cash. The operations to be acquired include branches, warehouses, packaged gas fill plants, and other operations involved in distributing packaged industrial and specialty gases and related equipment. The business includes 130 locations in 18 states with $346 million in 2006 revenues.&nbsp ; More …&nbsp ;

WinWholesale Inc. has acquired Tri-State Electric Supply, a regional distributor of electrical products based in Cincinnati, OH, the Dayton Business Journal reported. The acquisition gives WinWholesale a chance to build a stronger presence in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Tri-State had $24 million in revenues in 2006. Tri-State has branches in Dayton and Columbus. WinWholesale had $2.6 billion in revenues in 2006 and opened 16 new locations in 2006. It distributes commercial, industrial and residential supplies. More …&nbsp ;

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued building materials distributor 84 Lumber, Eighty Four, PA, for failing to file an Employer Information Report for each year since 2005. In the lawsuit, filed in Pennsylvania’s Western District, says that 84 Lumber has not filed reports, despite “written notice and a demand for these documents from the EEOC.” The EEOC is the governing body that makes equal employment opportunity policy and approves most litigation. For more information, go to www.eeoc.gov.

Grainger, $5.9 billion national distributor of facilities maintenance products, plans to expand operations in the Northeast, particularly New York City, by opening new facilities, relocating others, and expanding existing facilities. Grainger operates out of 23 locations in the area but plans to increase its number of locations by 25 percent and up its local workforce by 10-20 percent. Grainger will increase the size of its distribution network in the Tri-State area by about 40 percent. Grainger’s investments are part of the company’s market expansion initiative. The distributor will invest between $50-$80 million in 2007 to expand and enhance operations nationwide. More …&nbsp ;

Paris-based electrical distributor Rexel was officially listed in Paris Thursday, April 5, 2007, on Eurolist by Euronext, a European stock exchange. Owners of Rexel, Eurazeo, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and Merrill Lynch, sought to raise around 1.015 billion euro at the midpoint of the price range, Forbes reported. The maximum amount raised will be 1.34 billion euro, or 32.2 percent of capital. The group of investors paid around $3.5 billion for Rexel in 2004 (2.6 billion euro at the time). At the time, Rexel reported annual sales of $8.9 billion (6.7 billion euro). Rexel recently reported sales of about $12.1 billion (9.3 billion euro), an increase of&nbsp ; about 35 percent&nbsp ; since going private in 2004. More …&nbsp ;

Flow control distributor FCX Performance, Inc., Columbus, OH, has acquired RVS Controls & Instrumentation, distributor of process control instrumentation serving industrial customers in eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington D.C. With the acquisition, FCX expands its product range offered in the area through its Sewell, NJ, branch. FCX has about $120 million in annual sales. More …&nbsp ;

MSC Industrial Direct Inc., Melville, NY, distributor of MRO supplies to industrial customers, reported sales of $404.6 million in the second quarter 2007, an increase of 32.3 percent from the same period last year. J & L Industrial Supply, acquired in 2006, accounted for 70 percent of this growth. Growth minus the J & L acquisition was 9 percent in the second quarter, according to MDM calculations. Profit for the second quarter 2007 increased 21.5 percent to $40.5 million. Sales in the first half of fiscal 2007 were $806.6 million, an increase of 34 percent versus a year ago, with J & L accounting for 70 percent of this growth. Growth minus J & L was about 10 percent in the first half.&nbsp ; Profit for the first half of fiscal 2007 was $80.8 million, compared to $65.3 million in the year-ago period. More …&nbsp ;

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March for the second consecutive month, according to supply executives in the latest Manufacturing Institute for Supply Management Report On Business. The New Orders and Production Indexes advanced while the Employment and Inventories Indexes declined. A positive for March is the Customers’Inventories Index (falling below 50 percent after five consecutive months above the breakeven line), which is a possible indication that manufacturers’inventories are nearing satisfactory levels. On the negative side, prices appear to be surging for certain commodities in the face of slower growth. More …&nbsp ;

Construction spending during February 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,170.8 billion, 0.3 percent (& plusmn; 1.4 percent)