Where in the world has 2021 gone? While in some ways it feels like we've been in this COVID-19 pandemic forever, it's also hard to believe we've already started the final month of the year.
Having rebounded from the worst of the pandemic, M&A deal activity in the industrial supply sector moved along at a solid pace this past summer, as I tracked 19 deals in June, 22 in July and 18 in August before September surged to 32 such items in what was perhaps the busiest M&A month I've seen in my 6-plus years here at Industrial Distribution.
But October was much slower, as I saw only 16 deals announced — exactly half of September — leading me to wonder if this market was headed back to a conservative stretch through the rest of 2021's fourth quarter.
Nope.
November came back with a vengeance, as I tracked 27 deals despite an ongoing myriad of supply chain issues for seemingly everyone in this space — a persisting labor crisis, a semiconductor shortage (which is showing signs of improving), and other material shortages causing historically high prices in many markets. Even with those factors, industrial distributors and manufacturers appear to still be highly proactive in spending capital to grow via acquisitions.
These news items include announcements of completed or pending acquisitions impacting distributors relevant to the industrial products space in North America.
Here's what we covered in November, in reverse chronological order:
- Global Precision Products Acquires Fellow Aerospace/Defense Machining Supplier - announced Nov. 30
- Pumps Distributor West View Cunningham Acquires G&W Industrial Sales - announced Nov. 30
- Regal Rexnord Acquires Arrowhead Systems, Expanding Conveyor Offering - announced Nov. 23
- Walter to Buy Fellow Machining Supplier GWS Tool - announced Nov. 22
- BlackHawk Industrial Acquires Distributor Tools for Industry in Ohio - announced Nov. 22
- Air Hydro Power Acquires Fellow Louisville Distributor - announced Nov. 19
- Aftermarket Collision Parts Distributor Empire Auto Privately Acquired - announced Nov. 18
- Alco Manufacturing Corp. Acquires Fellow Machine Parts Supplier Kaddis Manufacturing - announced Nov. 18
- SAS Industries Acquires Specialty Rubber Corporation - announced Nov. 16
- FleetPride Acquires Jim’s Truck & Trailer Equipment - announced Nov. 16
- Banner Industries Acquires National Kwikmetal Services - announced Nov. 15
- B2B Industrial Packaging Acquires Distributor in Oregon - announced Nov. 15
- BradyIFS Acquires Seaway Supply Company in Illinois - announced Nov. 12
- Wolter Acquires Fellow Material Handling in Indiana - announced Nov. 11
- Master Distributor Midland Industries Acquires Century Brass - announced Nov. 11
- Alaska Rubber Group Makes Acquisition in Portland, OR - announced Nov. 11
- City Electric Supply to Acquire Solar Equipment Distributor Soligent - announced Nov. 11
- FleetPride Acquires Garden Spot Frame & Alignment, Gaining 4 More Locations - announced Nov. 3
- Graybar Makes St. Louis Acquisition; 2nd Deal Announced in 3 Days - announced Nov. 3
- Allied Motion Acquires Fellow NY Supplier ORMEC Systems Corp. - announced Nov. 2
- DuPont to Buy Rogers Corp. for $5.2B, Sell Most of Mobility & Materials Unit - announced Nov. 2
- Staying Busy, Ingersoll Rand Will Acquire Tuthill Pump Group in $85M Deal - announced Nov. 2
- BradyIFS Acquires Millennium Packaging in San Antonio - announced Nov. 1
- Imperial Dade Acquires Nichols Paper & Supply - announced Nov. 1
- RBC Bearings Completes $2.9B Acquisition of ABB’s DODGE Mechanical PT Unit - announced Nov. 1
- Graybar Acquires Automation Distributor Steven Engineering, Reports Record Q3 Sales - announced Nov. 1
- Distributor Techniweld USA Acquires Southern Glove - announced Nov. 1
Of course, despite our best efforts, there’s always relevant 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.
As for December, the holidays naturally make it one of the slowest M&A months of the year, so I'm expecting this month's deals count to be considerably lower than November's, but the first half of the month figures to still be pretty active. I'm expecting January to be a much stronger month.
See our October M&A recap here
See our September M&A recap here
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.