Imperial Supplies Sold to Grainger

Illinois-based Grainger, a distributor of facilities maintenance products, has purchased Imperial Supplies from American Capital, a publicly traded private equity firm.

Grainger expects the acquisition to boost earnings by $0.03 to $0.05 a share in 2010, including product and transportation cost savings.

Imperial, Green Bay, Wis., is a national distributor of maintenance products and aftermarket components for the vehicle and fleet industry.

"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," said Mike Pulick, president of Grainger's U.S. businesses.

The business will continue to operate as Imperial Supplies 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.

Grainger's specialty brands includes Lab Safety Supply (serving lab and safety professionals), Ben Meadows (serving forestry professionals), Gempler's (serving professionals in the agriculture and horticulture industries), Professional Equipment/Construction Book Express (serving inspection, electrical, HVAC, engineering and building professionals), Rand (serving facility and warehouse professionals), McFeely's (serving professional woodworkers), AW Direct (serving towing and service vehicle professionals) and Highsmith (serving library and school professionals).