GPC Remains Active As Motion Industries Acquires Braas Company

Genuine Parts Company has remained hot on the acquisition trail, announcing acquisitions this week for subsidiaries Motion Industries and EIS Inc.

Genuine Parts Company announced Thursday that Motion Industries, the company's Industrial Parts Group, has acquired Braas Company, a multi-regional distributor of products and services for industrial automation and control customers. It the latest of many acquisitions that that GPC has made in the past few years that has added more than $400 million in sales to the company’s bottom line.

Braas specializes in pneumatics, motion control, industrial networking, machine safety, robotics and related industrial parts. Founded in 1961, Braas is based in Eden Prairie, MN and serves thousands of customers throughout the Midwest and Southeastern U.S. from a network of five sales offices and three warehouses. The addition of Braas Company is expected to generate annual revenues of approximately $90 million.

Paul Donahue, president and CEO of Genuine Parts Company, said in a release: "Braas Company is a well-established distributor of products and services in the industrial automation and control categories. The growth prospects for this segment of the industrial marketplace are compelling, and the addition of such a well-positioned business serves to substantially enhance our automation capabilities.”

It is the second acquisition that GPC has annnounced in the past few days.

A few days ago EIS, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of GPC, acquired Communications Products and Services (CPS), headquartered in Englewood, CO.

CPS is a distributor of outside plant product solutions for both aerial and underground broadband cable and wireless network infrastructure. CPS primarily services the western USA from their single location in Englewood.

Motion Industries is No. 8 on Industrial Distribution's 2016 Big 50 List, while EIS is No. 22.

The acquisitions are fulfilling the acquisition strategy that GPC has put into place to grow the company’s business groups.

Earlier this year, GPC entered into definitive agreements to acquire Auto-Camping, Ltd., a distributor of original equipment import parts in Canada and select assets within the janitorial and sanitation business of Rochester Midland Corporation. Combined, the two businesses generate approximately $70 million in annual revenues. It also acquired a regional industrial safety products distributor with estimated revenues of about $20 million. 

In May, GPC’s office products group, S.P. Richards Company, acquired The Safety Zone LLC. Safety Zone, headquartered in Guilford, CT, is a direct importer and distributor of supplies and devices for safety, janitorial, medical, food service and food processing applications. Its broad customer base of more than 2,300 distributors is served from eight distribution centers in the U.S. and one in Canada. The addition of Safety Zone is expected to generate annual revenues of approximately $180 million.

In 2015, GPC and its subsidiaries acquired a number of new businesses across its automotive, industrial and office operations. Those deals included Miller Bearings in the industrial segment and Connect-Air for the electrical business, as well as a couple other smaller companies.

The company is targeting bolt-on acquisitions of companies with annual revenues in the $25 million to $150 million range but says it is also open to new, complementary distribution businesses of all sizes.

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