In the latest of what has become a routine development in the distribution arena, a pair of large distributors agreed to merge their operations into a single company.

The union of McJunkin Corp. and Red Man Pipe and Supply Co. is only the latest example of consolidation in the industry. More than a score of deals were made during the past month in virtually every industrial distribution sphere.

In the McJunkin and Red Man deal, the companies agreed to a “merger of equals” that will create one of North America's largest industrial and oilfield PVF products distributors.

McJunkin, ranked 12th on INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION's 2007 Big 50 list of distributors, sold a “substantial” stake to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners late last year. The company had 2006 revenues of $1.7 billion.

Red Man, ranked 15th on the Big 50, had revenues of $930 million last year.

In the distribution software arena, Activant Solutions Inc. agreed to buy the Intuit Eclipse Distribution Management Solutions business from Intuit for $100 million in cash in a deal expected to close this month.

Activant spokeswoman Jane Gideon told INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION that Intuit Eclipse, which provides business management software for wholesale distributors in the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, building materials, industrial and jan/san markets, will operate under the Activant brand once the deal is closed.

Not to be outdone by the $10.3 billion sale of rival HD Supply to a trio of private equity firms, Wolseley continued its march down the M&A trail with five bolt-on acquisitions, taking the number of companies it's bought in Europe and North America this fiscal year to 41.

Wolseley has spent $748 million on bolt-on acquisitions since August 1, 2006, including the $30 million it shelled out for its most recent purchases:

• Wolseley Canada bought Maverick Supplies Ltd., a PVF and industrial supplies distributor to the oil and natural gas industries with six locations in South Central Alberta;
• Stock Building Supply purchased Hollow Metal Specialists Inc., a Sarasota, Fla.-based fabricator, distributor and installer of commercial doors, hardware and access control products;
• Wolseley France acquired Etablissements Lebrun SAS, a building supplies distributor with a single location near Paris;
• Wolseley's Danish division, DT Group, bought H.R. Sandvold AS of Norway, a plumbing products wholesaler;
• DT Group also bought A/S Baagoe & Riber, a building supplies distributor based in Svendborg, Denmark.

And French electrical distributor Rexel (first on ID's Top 10 List of Electrical Distributors with 2006 sales of $12.3 billion) expanded its reach in Belgium, Britain and the United States with a trio of acquisitions:

• Boutet, an electrical distributor covering Eastern Belgium with 2006 sales of approximately $24.4 million and 50 employees;
• Clearlight, a Birmingham, England-based electrical supplies distributor with 2006 sales of approximately $13.6 million and 71 employees;
• Tri-Valley Electric Supply, which serves commercial and industrial markets in Arizona. Tri-Valley posted sales of roughly $5.4 million last year and has 15 employees.

Rexel was barely edged out of the top spot on ID's Top 10 list by another French concern, Sonepar (with 2006 sales of $12.4 billion), which made a buyout move on the other side of the Atlantic.

Its NorthEast Electrical Distributors/Eagle Electric Supply, a subsidiary of Sonepar USA, acquired the Ralph Pill Electric Supply Co. of Boston.

Here are some other notable deals:

• VWR International Inc. acquired Danish chemical and lab equipment supplier Bie & Berntsen A-S;
• Airgas Inc. purchased industrial gas and welding products distributor Lehner & Martin Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif., in Airgas' fifth acquisition this year. The company also made joint venture partner National Welders Supply Co. a wholly-owned subsidiary;
• Praxair Distribution bought Warren, Mich.-based industrial gases distributors Wilson Welding & Medical Gases and Mills Welding & Specialty Gases Inc. of Buffalo;
• HVAC manufacturer Carrier Corp. acquired distributor E.B. Ward & Co./Valair;
• Coconut Grove, Fla.-based HVAC distributor Watsco Inc. purchased distributor ACR Group Inc. of Houston;
• ABC Supply bought Ashley Aluminum;
• Pro-Build Holdings acquired lumber, millwork and building products distributor Crosslin Supply Co. of Tennessee;
• Dutch chemicals distributor Univar agreed to be acquired by private equity group Ulysses Luxembourg, a joint venture between CVC Capital Partners and Dutch bank group ING's equity arm, for $2.07 billion. Univar does business solely in the United States.

With its plethora of small and medium-sized, family-owned businesses, the fragmented distribution industry will likely see more M&A activity in coming days. Only time will tell if the end result is a landscape as consolidated as the European distribution market.