Far Eastern businesses with ThyssenKrupp Services’largely U.S.-based operations to form a global enterprise with 30 locations in 13 countries and turnover of more than $700 million.&nbsp ; More

Worthington Industries, Columbus, OH, announced that its subsidiary, Worthington Steelpac Systems, LLC, has acquired a 49% interest in LEFCO Industries, LLC, a minority business enterprise.&nbsp ; The resulting joint venture will become LEFCO Worthington, LLC.&nbsp ; In addition to continuing LEFCO’s existing products, the joint venture will manufacture steel rack systems for a variety of industries, including automotive and trucking. More

Industrial production decreased 0.5&nbsp ; percent in October after having increased 0.2 percent in September. Total industrial production in October was 1.8 percent above its year-earlier level. Output in the manufacturing sector fell 0.4&nbsp ; percent. Capacity utilization for total industry fell to 81.7 percent, a rate equal to its year-earlier level. More

September&nbsp ; U.S. manufacturing technology consumption was $438.95 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 21.7% from August, and up 2.9% from the total of $426.39 million reported for September 2006. With a year-to-date total of $3,076.65 million, 2007 was up 6.7% compared with 2006. More

The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Economic Forecast forecasts that inflation-adjusted GDP growth will slow to 2.1% in 2007 and to 1.3% in 2008. Manufacturing production growth will show a decline from 4.7% growth in 2006 to an estimated 1.9% in 2007, and is forecast to remain flat in 2008. More

Wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported.&nbsp ; More

P & F Industries, air-powered tool and hardware manufacturer, reported sales for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2007, were $30.3 million, down 6.1% from the same period a year ago. “The ongoing decline in new housing starts continues to adversely impact our businesses, particularly in the southern and western regions of the nation,” said President and CEO Richard Horowitz. P & F operates through its two wholly owned subsidiaries: Continental Tool Group Inc. and Countrywide Hardware Inc. More

Electrical distributor Rexel reported sales were up 3.5% in the first nine months of 2007 to 7.9 billion euro (US$11.5B). During the third quarter of 2007, Rexel saw continued growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific, led by the industrial and commercial end-markets while sales trends in North America were comparable to the second quarter. More

Home improvement retailer The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, reported third quarter 2007 profits of $1.1 billion, compared with $1.5 billion in the same period in fiscal 2006.&nbsp ; Sales for the third quarter were $19 billion, a 3.5% decrease from the third quarter 2006, reflecting negative comparable store sales of 6.2%, offset in part by sales from new stores. MoreUnited Stationers Supply Co., Deerfield, IL, has agreed to acquire ORS Nasco Holding Inc., an affiliate of Brazos Private Equity Partners, LLC, for $180 million. ORS Nasco, Muskagee, OK, is a master distributor of industrial supplies, selling exclusively to independent distributors. The company has annual sales of $285 million. Acquiring ORS Nasco will diversify our product offering and provide us entry into the estimated $22 billion wholesale industrial supplies market,” said Richard W. Gochnauer, president and CEO of United Stationers. United Stationers is a $4.5 billion master distributor of office, technology, janitorial and breakroom supplies. More

Philips Holding USA Inc., a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics, has agreed to acquire Genlyte Group Inc., a manufacturer of lighting fixtures, controls, and related products for the commercial, industrial and residential markets, for $2.7 billion in cash. The acquisition allows Philips to expand in the green-lighting business in North America and to introduce Genlyte’s products to the international market. About 90% of Genlyte’s 2006 revenues were in commercial and industrial applications in 2006. The rest are focused on high-end residential applications. In the 12 months ended September 2007, Genlyte had sales of $1.6 billion. More

The Trelleborg Group, through the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions business area, has acquired the privately owned seal distributor Sealing Solutions Inc., Colmar, PA, which has about 40 employees and sales of SEK 100 M (US$15.8M based on current exchange rates). Sealing Solutions is a distributor to the aerospace industry and industrial OEM companies.&nbsp ; More

The Ch. 7 bankruptcy petition recently filed by Hoboken Wood Flooring has been dismissed by the&nbsp ; U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The dismissal places Hoboken back where it was before filing a petition for Ch. 7 bankruptcy, and potentially opens the floodgates for litigation by creditors against Hoboken and its subsidiaries, as well as its controlling investor, private equity firm Code Hennessy and Simmons. More

Diversified manufacturer 3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to acquire Aearo Technologies Inc., Indianapolis, IN,&nbsp ; for $1.2 billion. Aearo is a supplier in the personal protection industry and manufactures and markets personal protection and energy absorbing products. Aearo has sales of $508 million. More

KRG Capital Partners, a Denver, CO-based buyout firm, has sold drill-bit manufacturer Varel International to an affiliate of Atlanta-based private equity firm Arcapita, Inc. for $369 million. Varel, based in Carrollton, TX, is focused on the oil and gas, mining and industrial industries. Varel has sales in 41 countries, with 50% of its revenue outside of North America.&nbsp ; More

Textron Inc., Providence, RI, has completed its purchase of United Industrial Corp., a supplier to the aerospace and defense systems markets through its subsidiary AAI Corp. The total value of the transaction was $1.1 billion. More

Duesseldorf, Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Services AG is expanding its aerospace materials services business by acquiring UK-based company Apollo Metals Group, which includes Aviation Metals for an undisclosed fee from Murray International Holdings, UK. The acquisition will combine Apollo’s largely European and