One might think that in December — as companies are busy planning next year's budgets, spending plans and a general business winddown as the holidays approach — that merger & acquisition activity would likewise slow significantly before ramping up again early in the new year. Especially amid COVID-19, with confirmed cases of the virus and resulting deaths surging higher than ever, I figured M&A news in the industrial supply sector would be rather light through Dec. 31.
Man, was I wrong. We at Industrial Distribution posted 20 news briefs in December covering M&A activity. That's the most since 20 in January and 21 in February — before COVID began impacting business activity in the United States. For perspective, December's figure followed 15 in November, 11 in October and 12 in September.
Now, a handful of December's M&A news involved distributors of building materials and jansan products — two categories just outside ID's core product category areas — but still enough within the ballpark to warrant coverage.
Below, see what we covered in December, in reverse chronological order of their announcement:
- The Home Depot Completes $8B HD Supply Acquisition - announced Dec. 24
- Ohio Transmission Corp. Boosts Central US Network, Acquires JCI Industries - announced Dec. 22
- Brady Acquires Kerr Paper & Supply, Individual Foodservice - announced Dec. 21 and Dec. 14
- Janitorial & Packaging Distribution Group NW Synergy Acquires Southeastern Paper - announced Dec. 16
- Bunzl Acquires Jansan & Packaging Distributor in Canada, PPE Distributor in Brazil - announced Dec. 16
- PIP to be Acquired by Another Private Investment Firm - announced Dec. 10
- London's Electrocomponents Buys MRO Management Provider Synovos for $145M - announced Dec. 10
- Platinum Equity to Buy Ingram Micro in $7.2B Deal - announced Dec. 9
- Midland Industries Acquires Texas' Champion Brass - announced Dec. 7
- Ingersoll Rand to Buy Tuthill Vacuum and Blower Systems in $184M Deal - announced Dec. 7
- Rexnord to Acquire Partition & Locker Supplier Hadrian - announced Dec. 4
- Timken Acquires Illinois' Aurora Bearing Co. - announced Dec. 1
- Tri Star Industrial Acquires Fellow PVF Distributor Columbia Specialty Co. - announced Dec. 1
- Distributor Belt Power Acquires Denver's Rubber Service Corp. - announced Dec. 1
- Graybar Acquires Shingle & Gibb Automation - announced Dec. 1
- Imperial Dade Expands In Texas, Acquires Great Southwest Paper - announced Dec. 1
- Now Private, US LBM Acquires Ridgefield Supply in Connecticut - announced Dec. 1
- Brady Acquires Tennessee JanSan Distributor Topmost Chemical & Paper - announced Dec. 1
- Builders Materials Giant BMC to Acquire Mid-Atlantic's TW Perry - announced Nov. 30
- PPG Buying Coatings Maker Ennis-Flint for $1.15B - announced Nov. 30
Check out our November M&A recap here
Check out our October M&A recap here
Check out our September M&A recap here
Despite our best efforts, there’s always deals announced that either wasn’t on our radar, or that weren’t made public. But, this list should provide a good idea of most M&A activity applicable to the industrial supply market.
If your company has M&A news to share, M&A or otherwise, contact ID editor Mike Hockett at [email protected].
As always, the best way to stay on top of industrial supply M&A news is to make sure you're subscribed to ID's free daily e-newsletter.
