Following Fabory Sale, Grainger to Divest Grainger China

The MRO products giant said the sale will better enable it to focus on key businesses and geographies.

Grainger China

Three weeks after announcing the sale of its Fabory segment, Grainger said Monday that it is shedding another international business.

The MRO products distribution and services giant announced it has reached an agreement to sell its distribution business in China, Grainger China LLC. It will be sold to a purchaser owned by the Grainger China management team and Sinovation Ventures, a China-based venture capital firm.   

924376Grainger — No. 1 on Industrial Distribution’s Big 50 List — said the divestment will better enable the company to focus on its key businesses and geographies. With that, Grainger will maintain its Global Sourcing operations based in China, which provides Grainger with private label products in categories that include safety, cleaning, electrical, motors and tools.

"I applaud the Grainger China team members for doing a remarkable job to drive profitable growth over the years," said DG Macpherson, Grainger chairman and CEO. "The management team is strong and well positioned for even greater success moving forward. Grainger continues to have a relentless focus on providing customer value through our high-touch and endless assortment offerings, and doing so in the geographies that make the most sense for us."

The divestment — expected to close later this year — is not subject to any financing condition but is subject to the standard regulatory approvals.

On June 1, Grainger announced the divestment of Fabory — a specialist distributor of fastener products in Western Europe — to Dutch private equity firm Torqx Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. Grainger bought Fabory in 2011 for $344 million.

On April 23, Grainger reported that its 2020 first quarter sales of $3.0 billion increased 7.2 percent year-over-year and gained 5.5 percent on a daily basis, while total profit of $173 million was down from $253 million of a year earlier.

Grainger will report its 2020 second quarter financial results on July 23.

Check out ID’s May/June profile of Zoro.com, Grainger’s pure-play e-commerce subsidiary.

More in Mergers & Acquisitions