Des Plaines, ILL. —Premier Farnell plc, a global distributor of electronic and industrial components, announced the sale of part of its North American Industrial Products Division to Des Plaines, Ill.-based Lawson Products, Inc. The sale is expected to realize some £20-25 million for London-based Premier Farnell.

The businesses included in the transaction are Kent Automotive and the Premier Industrial distribution operations that trade as Certanium Alloys, Rotanium Products, Premier Fasteners, CT Engineering and JI Holcomb, which operate in Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. The sale was slated to be completed on March 30, 2001.

Premier Farnell group director, communications, Nick Ross said: "In order to be successful in the North American market, we needed to expand, yet we couldn't expand all of our businesses simultaneously. We chose to focus on our core business of electronics components."

It made sense to sell our Industrial Products Division to [Lawson Products] which is much bigger in these markets. We didn't feel that we had the critical mass necessary in these businesses."

The businesses included in the sale are expected to have a revenue total of approximately $69 million in 2000. Lawson Products generated $319 million in revenue during 1999.