Grainger acquires Imperial Supplies

Jack Keough -- Industrial Distribution, 10/14/2009 8:44:48 AM

Grainger, a leading broad line distributor of facilities maintenance products, today announced it has signed and closed an all cash acquisition of Imperial Supplies, LLC from American Capital, Ltd. No other terms of the agreement were disclosed. Grainger anticipates the transaction should be accretive to earnings by $.03-$.05 a share in 2010 including product and transportation cost savings.

Imperial, headquartered in Green Bay, Wisc., is a national distributor of maintenance products and aftermarket components for the vehicle and fleet industry. The company has built its reputation by offering customers highly efficient methods to order and monitor their purchases, serving the fleet market since 1958. In 2008, Imperial had sales of $67 million.

"Imperial Supplies is a leading player in the $4 billion fleet maintenance industry and we are excited to begin working together," said Mike Pulick, President of Grainger's U.S. Businesses. "In addition to the financial benefits for our shareholders, we anticipate cross selling opportunities by offering Imperial customers access to Grainger's broad product offering and national distribution scale and Grainger customers access to the 20,000 fleet maintenance products Imperial carries."

The business will continue to operate as Imperial Supplies, LLC under Grainger's Specialty Brands business and will be led by Rob Gilson, Imperial's CEO. Gilson will report to Ralph Howard, Vice President, Specialty Brands, and together they will leverage Grainger's expertise and resources to profitably grow market share.

"We share common values that focus on serving customers with the utmost integrity," said Gilson. "Going forward, this is a big win for Imperial customers because they have our ongoing commitment to superior service combined with the scale of Grainger's industry leading network."