Graybar Buys Georgia-Based Distributor Advantage Industrial Automation

摘要

Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, moved to expand its interest in the factory automation market with an agreement to acquire Advantage Industrial Automation, an industrial automation specialty distributor with six locations throughout the Southeast, headquartered in Duluth, Ga. Graybar has made industrial automation a growth focus at various times over the years, but Advantage is its first automation-oriented acquisition since its Graybar Canada business bought AVAD Industrial Sales in Sudbury, Ontario, in 2010. In its 2014 annual report filings with the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC), employee-owned Graybar reported that industrial and utility sales, combined, accounted for 21.7% of total sales, compared with 54.7% construction and 22.1 % commercial, institutional and government.