Now that Rexel has completed its purchase of Dutch electrical distributor Hagemeyer NV, the next step in the deal -to sell Hagemeyer’s North American, Asian-Pacific and some European assets to competitor Sonepar -will take place in the next six months, Rexel CEO Jean-Charles Pauze said.
 
Pauze was commenting in an online video interview, posted by the company through the EuroBusiness Media site. (Interview, Transcript)
 
Pauze said the combination of Rexel and Hagemeyer is “historic.” “Not only are we reinforcing our position worldwide, but we are becoming a very strong No. 2 in Europe and a true challenger.”
 
“We will be more resilient,” Pauze said, “because of the geographic spread, end-market spread, and because we are increasing our share of the renovation and maintenance business.”
 
Europe, he says, now represents nearly 60% of Rexel’s overall sales, while before the Hagemeyer deal it represented 45%. The company adds three countries in the Baltics, Finland, Norway and adds significant strength in the UK and Spain. The company also becomes No. 2 in Germany, Pauze says.
 
“We are, in one move, gaining 30% more volume of activity for the whole group,” Pauze said. In Europe, Rexel is gaining 50% more branches in its network.
 
Pauze also addressed integration and synergies with this deal:
 
“Since 2004 we have acquired 25 companies and integrated them … In 2006 we acquired Gexpro, the GE Supply division. … With Hagemeyer we will use this experience; we will naturally have synergies related to purchasing as well as stronger relationships with our strategic suppliers. We will also have stronger administrative synergies because the corporate structure of Hagemeyer as a group will be discontinued medium term, and we also have the operational back-office synergies in the different countries we work in -including IT, logistic synergies and different sales network synergies.”
 
Rexel does plan more bolt-on acquisitions in 2008.