CHARLESTON, W. VA.— McJunkin Corp. of Charleston, W. Va., has acquired Minooka, Ill.-based Joliet Valves Inc. The merged business of Joliet Valves will operate as Joliet Valves- McJunkin, a division of McJunkin Corp.

The acquisition follows McJunkin's acquisition of Toledo, Ohio-based M.P. Wilkins Supply Co. in late 2000, Automation & Controls Specialists, Inc. of Dublin, Calif., in February 2001 and the recent acquisition of 15 Fairmont Supply locations. The Joliet acquisition is the largest of these purchases.

McJunkin Midwestern regional senior vice president Scott Hutchinson said the goal is to make the transition as transparent as possible for Joliet's customer base. Hutchinson will have management and operational responsibility for Joliet Valves-McJunkin locations.

"As part of our plan to change as little as possible, virtually all of JVI's operational management team will be joining McJunkin in similar roles," said Hutchinson. "Even Joliet Valves' retiring CEO, William C. Obrochta, will continue to serve as an advisor to our company."

Management of both companies said that Joliet Valve and McJunkin Corp. are a natural fit. Obrochta said the companies share a similar philosophy and customers will benefit from the greater resources the new, larger organization will offer.

"It has seemed like a natural matching for us for quite a long time," added McJunkin's president, Bernie Wehrle. "Even to the extent that, for years, people in the industry have asked both Joliet and McJunkin when, not if, we were going to get together."

Joliet currently has 17 locations and 175 employees in the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. This will add to the more than 110 locations and nearly 1,600 employees of McJunkin, which was rated 15th in industrial distribution's Top 100, with $750 million in sales for 2000.

"Joliet serves many of our largest national customers in the Midwest and also brings a wealth of other customers to our combined entity," said senior vice president James Underhill. "They carry very comparable, and in many cases identical, lines of PVF and integrated supply products."

McJunkin senior vice president of valves Gary Ittner said Joliet brings exciting new manufacturer relationship to the combined company in this region of the Midwest.

"Joliet Valves is very well known and respected for its capabilities in a number of value-added services including integrated supply, actuation and controls, and as a provider of unique customer solutions," said Ittner.

In keeping with the terms of the agreement, details of the acquisition will not be released.