United Stationers Supply Co. will acquire master distributor ORS Nasco for approximately $180 million from Brazos Private Equity, a Dallas-based investment firm.

United Stationers Supply is North America's largest broad-line wholesale distributor of business products and had net sales of $4.5 billion in 2006.

Based in Deerfield, Ill., the company is a subsidiary of United Stationers Inc. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year.

“Acquiring ORS Nasco will diversify our product offering and provide us entry into the industrial supplies market,” said United Stationers president and CEO Richard Gochnauer. “We see many parallels to our Lagasse business, which has been our fastest growing category. Lagasse has grown from approximately $80 million to nearly $1 billion over the last 10 years.

“We believe that ORS Nasco provides a similar platform for profitable growth.”

Lagasse is a janitorial supplies business United Stationers acquired in 1996.

Gochnauer went on to say that,“ORS Nasco has a strong management team and an outstanding group of people who are committed to providing superior service to their independent distributors. We are excited to be partnering with them.

“We are confident that our combined efforts, along with our expertise in marketing and logistical services, will allow us to grow this wholesale business, which operates in a highly fragmented market.”

Headquartered in Muskogee, Okla., ORS Nasco sells exclusively to independent distributors and had sales of $285 million in 2006.

“United Stationers is exactly the type of partner we need to continue to grow our business and the only strategic partner that fits with ORS Nasco,” said ORS Nasco president and CEO Bill Scheller. “There are many synergies between our organizations that will enable [us] to achieve new levels of growth.”

Randall Fojtasek, a Brazos Partner, said, “ORS Nasco has been an outstanding investment for Brazos. [Their] EBITDA has increased by more than 50 percent during Brazos' two-year investment period.”