GE Supply is now Gexpro

Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 6/1/2007

When global electrical distributor Rexel acquired GE Supply last August, its U.S.-based CEO Dick Waterman told INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION, “The GE Supply name will probably transition into something else.”

That “something else” became official last month when Rexel announced that GE Supply will now go to market as Gexpro.

The new name was unveiled at the National Assn. of Electrical Distributors' annual meeting in Washington D.C. last month. Gexpro will continue to operate as an independent Rexel banner in the United States.

“We are excited by the opportunity to establish the Gexpro name,'' said company president and CEO Jeff Schaper. ''The Gexpro brand builds on over 100 years of GE Supply excellence.''

The name is the only major change resulting from the acquisition. As Waterman told INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION last year, “The duplication of customers is quite small in our existing business in the U.S. … We have no plans to change [GE Supply] in any significant manner.”

Like GE Supply, Gexpro is a full-line, international distributor of electrical parts, power generation products, fasteners and security equipment. Its 2006 revenues were roughly $2.5 billion.

Gexpro and its subsidiaries employ more than 2,500 people in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and China. In Ireland the company will continue to be known as Kellihers Electrical.