Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, mergers & acquisitions were one of the hallmarks of the B2B distribution space for the previous two decades. The rapid rise of business information available online made it increasingly easier for interested parties to find a distributor that fit what they were looking for and the right people to talk to about it. It's essentially impossible today to 'fly under the radar' of acquisition prospectors, and we at Industrial Distribution published around 20 items per month covering M&A news in the industrial supply space.
That all came to a near halt from March 2020 through the early spring of this year, when industrial distributors and manufacturers were reacting to and trying to recover from the pandemic's business impacts. My monthly recaps of M&A activity numbered only in the single digits throughout the rest of 2020 and well into this year, including a combined 18 items between April and May.
But June was finally a breakthrough, with ID covering 19 such M&A-related news items that month in what felt like a formal return to business normalcy in the B2B distribution space.
July proved that even further, with us covering 22 M&A news items of relevance to the industrial supply space. As always, not all of these are deals involving two industrial distributors or manufacturers, as they included a number of deals involving service providers that cater to distributors and suppliers alike.
Below, see what we covered during July in reverse chronological order of their company announcement. This includes announcements of completed or pending acquisitions impacting distributors relavent to the industrial products space in North America, as well as other news and announcements that could lead to or reject an acquisition.:
- Pumps Distributor Fischer Process Industries Acquires HE Danby in Indiana - announced July 28
- RBC Bearings to Buy ABB’s DODGE Mechanical PT Unit for $2.9B - announced July 26
- Entegra Attachments Acquires Hercules Machinery and Tital Metal Worx - announced July 25
- BlackHawk Industrial Expands in Fasteners, Acquires Florida Distributor - announced July 21
- JGB Enterprises Acquires HosePower Canada - announced July 21
- Sonepar USA Boosts Midwest Footprint, Acquires Springfield Electric Supply - announced July 21
- RelaDyne to Acquire Fellow Lubricants & Fuels Supplier in Southern California - announced July 20
- Nucor to Acquire Steel Racking Maker Hannibal Industries for $370M - announced July 20
- ABB to Acquire ASTI Mobile Robotics Group - announced July 20
- Ingersoll Rand Confirms Unsolicited Offer for SPX Flow Was Rejected - announced July 20
- Kuecker Logistics Group, Pulse Integration and QC Software to Merge - announced July 20
- Bon Tool Acquires Assets of Plank-Ti, Inc. - announced mid-July
- Solve Industrial Motion Acquired by Private Equity - announced July 14
- Stellar Industrial Boosts Northeast Footprint, Acquires R.G. Brewton - announced July 9
- Winsupply Acquires New England Plumbing Distributor - announced July 6
- Aerosol, Maintenance Liquids Maker PLZ Aeroscience Acquires Lubricants Supplier Champion Brands - announced July 6
- CD&R to Acquire, Merge Label Makers Fort Dearborn & Multi-Color - announced July 2
- French Gerleman, IAC Supply Merge to Form $250M Industrial Automation & Electrical Distributor - announced July 1
- Zebra Technologies Acquiring Fetch Robotics for $290 Million - announced July 1
- ERP Providers Distribution One, Universal Business Systems to Merge - announced July 1
- Rubber Tree Systems Acquires Inventory Software Provider WarehouseTwo - announced June 30
- Dakota Supply Group Acquires Michigan's Calverley Supply - announced June 29
Of course, despite our best efforts, there’s always deals announced that either weren’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 news to share, M&A or otherwise, contact me at 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.
