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Ideal Industries, Sycamore, Ill., has added to its hand-tool manufacturing capacity with the acquisition on New Years Eve of Western Forge, a tool manufacturer based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The company makes pliers, screwdrivers and adjustable wrenches at a 345,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Colorado Springs. The move adds to Ideal’s emphasis on “made in America” products and expands its tool offering in OEM and retail markets.

Randy Thompson, a 22-year Ideal veteran, will lead Western Forge as general manager.

In response to a J.P. Morgan investment analyst’s assessment that Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee, Wis., would be a “good fit” if GE built up its automation business, a Rockwell spokesperson said in Dec. 14 Reuters report that the company’s shareholders would be best served by the firm remaining independent.

A-D Technologies, Knoxville, Tenn., is selling its cable laying equipment business marketed under the ARNCO brand name to Plumettaz Inc., Buford, Ga., a subsidiary of Plumettaz Holding SA, Bex, Switzerland, makers of the Plumett brand of cable-laying equipment. Concurrent with this sale, the two companies have entered into a distribution agreement where A-D Technologies will continue to offer placing equipment and trailers under the ARNCO name that are provided by Plumettaz Inc.

Schneider Electric and Alstom won the right to exclusive negotiations to acquire Areva T&D, the transmission and distribution operations of French nuclear power company Areva. Schneider stands to get the medium voltage side of the business. Schneider and Alstom said they propose to jointly acquire Areva T&D for an equity value of €2.29 billion (about $3.5 billion).

According to Schneider Electric’s press release announcing the deal, Areva T&D’s activities are currently number three worldwide, with transmission moving to Alstom (around two thirds of the business) and distribution to Schneider Electric (about one third), would transform Schneider Electric and Alstom into two of this market’s global leaders with
• an upstream pole, with power generation provided by Alstom (turnkey power plants, turbines and generators), completed by transmission (very high and high voltage) transferred from Areva T&D to Alstom;
• a downstream pole, with electrical distribution of Schneider Electric reinforced by the medium voltage activities of Areva T&D.

Schneider release

Interesting report just released on M&A trends in the electrical market by Robert W. Baird & Co., an investment banking firm based in Milwaukee. The report says M&A activity in this market will increase as the economy improves. In part the report said, “Given the industry’s appeal and consolidation drivers, we expect the building backlog of deals to translate to pent-up demand among strategic buyers and private equity firms once the M&A market recovers.”
By the way, information from Electrical Wholesaling magazine was sourced extensively in the report, including EW’s Electrical Pyramid and data from its 2009 Top 200 listing.

GE is in talks to sell its security systems unit, most likely to United Technologies Corp. for more than $1.5 billion in an effort to reshuffle its extensive portfolio and raise capital for strategic acquisitions according to a new report posted by Zacks Equity Research on Nov. 11.
A big piece of GE’s security business is Edwards System Technology, a maker of fire detection equipment, which GE bought from SPX in 2004 for $1.4 billion according to a 2004 article in Electrical Marketing. Edwards was acquired by SPX in 1998 as part of its acquisition of General Signal.

Two leading U.S. manufacturers of reel handling equipment for processing and distributing cable, wire and other flexible materials have merged. Tulsa Power Holdings Corp and Reel-O-Matic Inc. will maintain manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma respectively. All key personnel will remain the same at each location, with Terry Simmons as president of Reel-O-Matic, and Mike Spence as CEO of Tulsa Power.
The companies manufacture shafted and shaftless take-up and payout machinery, high speed spoolers, coiling equipment, caterpullers and specialize in the design and development of customized handling equipment for manufacturers and distributors of wire and cable, wire rope, pipe, hose and tubing, telecommunications, utilities, mining, shipbuilding, drilling contractors, oilfield service contractors and defense related industries.

Cape Electrical Supply Co., Cape Girardeau, Mo., has acquired Beck Electric Co., Kennett, Mo. The transaction was completed on September 30, 2009.

Bill Beck, who opened the business in 1999, will remain involved with Cape Electrical Supply, along with his sons Darryld Beck, store manager, and Greg Beck in sales and customer service, plus grandson Kris Beck handling sales and operational duties.

Beck becomes Cape Electrical Supply’s 21st location. The company operates locations in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Siemens PLM Automation, a unit of Siemens’ factory automation unit that concentrates on product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, announced that it bought the software technology and brand assets of Rulestream, a specialist in engineered-to-order processes for custom-built products.

Siemens release via BusinessWire