Electrical Marketing's LiveWire

The Central Maine Power Co. has awarded a contract to Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) Houston, for construction and installation of approximately 200 miles of transmission infrastructure in central and western Maine. Details

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a single (unnamed) trader holds about $3 billion worth of copper in the London Metals Exchange (LME) warehouses, which is 80% to 90% of the copper held in the exchange. Copper prices on the LME reached a new record high of $9,353.50 per metric ton on Tuesday and copper in New York hit a record $4.2705 per pound, rallying along with the stock market.

“J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. recently had a large position in copper, though it is unclear whether the U.S. bank increased its holdings or whether a new player has taken a dominant position,” the Journal said.

This should be an interesting story to follow.

In another move toward offering a broader package of services for turnkey project business, Siemens Financial Services, Inc. (SFS Inc.), Iselin, N.J., the U.S. unit of Siemens’ Financial Services division, announced it will be expanding its energy and project finance offering to include infrastructure lending through senior secured and other debt financing solutions, effective immediately. Kirk Edelman, president and chief executive officer, SFS Inc., said in a press release that expanding the company’s energy and project finance platform to include infrastructure projects will enable SFS Inc. to support the capital needs of project developers, lenders and investors
As part of this expansion, Flavio Zelaya has joined SFS Inc. as vice president, Infrastructure Finance and is tasked with spearheading this initiative. Zelaya has 15 years of structured and corporate finance experience and joins SFS Inc. from Dexia Credit Local in New York, where he served as V.P. in its project finance origination and structuring team. In that role, his principal focus was project finance and acquisition finance transactions in the transportation, social infrastructure, and water and waste sectors.
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W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW), Lake Forest, Ill., may divest parts of its Specialty Brands portfolio, including Construction Book Express, which sells books for electricians, general contractors, HVAC professionals architect and engineers. The company has already sold substantially all of the assets of another piece of that business, library supplies provider Highsmith, to DEMCO, Inc., the leading provider of solutions to America’s libraries and schools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of a strategic review of the Specialty Brands portfolio, Grainger is also assessing the possible divestiture of four additional brands, including: Professional Equipment (serving inspection and construction-related trade professionals); McFeely’s (serving professional woodworkers); and Rand (serving material handling needs). In aggregate, these four brands and Highsmith represent approximately one percent of total Grainger revenue.

“Grainger’s Specialty Brands provide targeted customer segments with products and services specific to their work or industries,” said Ralph Howard, Vice President and General Manager, Grainger Specialty Brands. “These changes support a focus on maintaining a portfolio of specialized brands in growing markets that are strategic to our core offering and leverage Grainger’s distribution capabilities. We will continue to invest in the remaining Specialty Brands portfolio including: Lab Safety Supply, Imperial, Gempler’s, Ben Meadows and AW Direct, and look for strategic acquisitions to grow the portfolio.”
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The recent deal between electrical contractor Integrated Electrical Services (IESC), Houston and Siemens perked my interest not only because it involved an electrical contractor selling a business unit to a manufacturer, but because the prefabrication work done by IESC and other electrical contractors has always intrigued me. Apparently, the Tesla Power & Automation business IESC sold to Siemens does prefab work on a grand scale.
In prefab work, electrical contractors build “assemblies” of systems of electrical products in their shops to later be installed on job-sites. Preassembling things like lighting fixtures with wiring ”whips” or other other groups of products for rough-in work saves installation time on job-sites and allows them to monitor the quality of the assemblies being built.
According to the Siemens press release, eHouses, also known as Power Equipment Centers or Power Distribution Centers, are “metal fabricated buildings that typically house medium- and low -voltage electrical switchgear with transformers, battery systems, etc. Upon completion, the eHouses are transported to the customer site.” Sounds like a much bigger deal than wiring whips to lighting fixtures.”
In that release, Douglas Proudfoot, Siemens Energy Business Segment Manager for MV Package Power Solutions, said, “Using eHouses makes for a simple and quick installation when compared with permanent brick-type buildings. All the electrical equipment is installed in the eHouse at the factory and fully tested prior to shipment. At the site, the eHouse is lifted from the truck, placed on the foundation and the electrical connections are made.”
The newly acquired business is located in Houston, Texas, where Siemens Energy also has a significant presence in the Houston area with more than 1,500 Houston-based employees. The facility will remain open and will become part of the Siemens Energy Power Distribution Division.

Schaedler Yesco Distribution (SYD), Harrisburg, Pa., won the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) Materials Contract. As a result of this award, SYD will act as the sole supplier of electrical and Sylvania lighting products to all agencies located throughout the state. Schaedler Yesco has won many bids for electrical supplies from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and has a team of employees dedicated to government projects.

Schaedler Yesco Distribution Inc. (SYD), Harrisburg, Pa., plans to open three locations in northeast Pennsylvania, including branches in Towanda and Wilkes-Barre in January 2011. A Scranton store is expected to open closer to mid-year. These locations will complement existing locations in Williamsport and the Pocono Mountains and will help establish SYD as a key distributor in the northeast. The company already has locations in Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Lebanon, Chambersburg, Williamsport, State College, Pocono Mountains, New Oxford, Gettysburg, St. Marys, Indiana, New Kensington and Pittsburgh. With $76.6 million in 2009 sales, Schaedler Yesco Distribution Inc. was ranked #93 on Electrical Wholesaling’s 2010 Top 200 listing of the largest electrical distributors.

Klein Tools, Inc., Lincolnshire, Ill., acquired a 50 percent equity position in UEi Test Instruments, Beaverton, Ore., to cement the existing partnership between the two companies. The companies have been working together since 2008. Founded in Beaverton in 1967, UEi manufactures environmental test equipment for the HVAC/R (heating, ventillating, air conditioning and refrigeration) market. Klein Tools will begin to market the line of electrical test and measurement products to select HVAC/R customers in January 2011.