Big acquisition news from Bunzl and 3M, both announced Tuesday, dominated Industrial Distribution over the past seven days. A look at 3D printing's potential impact on the market was a top item as well.
Here's this week's Top 5:
Bunzl Acquires 4 Industrial Distributors: Bunzl, an international distribution and outsourcing Group, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire four businesses in the U.S., Colombia, Canada, and France. Among the acquisitions are: International Sourcing Company, Inc., which trades as Cordova Safety Products, based in Memphis, TN; Importadores Exportadores Solmaq SAS based in Bogota, Colombia; GF, Inc., a distributor of industrial packaging, warehouse supplies and equipment based in Calgary, Canada; and Ligne T SAS, a distributor of personal protection equipment, principally workwear, based in Montauban, France.
3M Buys Capital Safety For Record $2.5 Billion: St. Paul, MN-based global manufacturer 3M announced Tuesday that it will buy fall protection maker Capital Safety from private equity firm KKR for a total of $2.5 billion, which includes $700 million in debt. Capital Safety had annual revenue of $430 million for the fiscal year that ended March 31, and employs about 1,500 people worldwide. Capital Safety makes fall-protection equipment, harnesses, self-retracting lifelines and other products, under the brands Protecta and Dbi-Sala. The purchase price of $1.8 billion is the largest acquisition in 3M's 113-year history. Previously, its biggest deal was a $1.35 billion purchase of filtration company Cuno 10 years ago.
3D Printing: How Concerning For Industrial Distributors?: The topic of 3D printing has been synonymous with manufacturing over the past few years, becoming a key part of a handful of product markets. But what are the implications specifically in industrial distribution? Check out my blog on the topic, in which the viewpoints of several industry experts are discussed.
Former Airgas Exec Sentenced For Embezzlement: According to the Philadelphia Business Journal and other media sources, Joan Baranek, former vice president of sales for Airgas Safety, was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for embezzling more than $830,000 from the company between 2006-2012. Baranek, 57, pleaded guilty last year to charges stemming from dozens of false expense reports she submitted to Levittown-based Airgas – No. 8 on Industrial Distribution's 2014 Big 50 List.
The Lost Sale: Recording Your Disappointment: The lost sale is the bane of any distributor. When a part sale is lost to another, it’s generally because you didn’t have something in stock. Sure, it might happen occasionally because of pricing but first and foremost availability is at the root of most of the lost sale incidents. You can call “swing and a miss” as the parts customer leaves the store or hangs up without a sale occurring. But there is an opportunity to salvage something from the occasion, and that is done by recording the lost sale. Toyota Equipment shares how to go about doing so.
