MDM's Top News Stories of 2022: Another Busy Year for M&A

As 2022 comes to a close, MDM is taking a look back at the content our readers engaged with most this year. We conclude our year-end series with our top news items — while MDM’s content primarily focuses on thought leadership, we provide as much news coverage of the wholesale distribution industry as we can. MDM news stories are written by our staff and (usually) aren’t exclusive to MDM Premium Subscribers. 

The distribution sector saw another very busy year in 2022 in the form of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), company expansions, staffing announcements, updates from associations and technology providers, and much more. Appearing in MDM’s top 2022 headlines were industry staples such as Grainger, Fastenal, Sonepar and BradyIFS.

Here are MDM’s 50 most-viewed news stories from 2022:

• Ferguson Nets $28.6B Sales in Fiscal 2022 — published Sept. 27 — MDM’s top news story in 2022 was an earnings report from plumbing, HVAC and industrial distributor Ferguson. Stories covering companies that made MDM’s 2022 Top Distributor List — such as Ferguson, who ranked as the No. 1 Plumbing Distributor, No. 2 HVACR Distributor, No. 2 Industrial PVF Distributor and No. 4 Industrial Distributor — often garnered significant traffic. 
• Report: Linde Gas & Equipment to Acquire nexAir — Oct. 11 — Linde Gas & Equipment, one of the largest gas companies in the world, didn’t strike this M&A deal until late 2022, but still managed to nab a top spot on this list as an M&A deal involving a global business. 
• Brady IFS Acquires SupplyitAll — Feb. 1 — A member of MDM’s 2022 Top Jan-San Distributors list, BradyIFS made several notable acquisitions this year, which helped push the distributor’s annual revenues over $1 billion. 
• Builders FirstSource Slashes 2,600 Jobs Amid Market Downturn — Nov. 11 — Builders FirstSource, which ranked No. 1 on MDM’s 2022 Top Building Materials/ Construction Distributors list, detailed a slew of cost-cutting measures during an earnings call last month.
• Winsupply Acquires Hydrologic Distribution Company — Oct. 4 — Another M&A deal involving one of MDM’s top distributors. Winsupply ranked as the No. 3 Plumbing Distributor, No. 4 HVACR Distributor, No. 9 Industrial Distributor and No. 25 Electrical, Data & Security Distributor on our top distributor list.
• With Merger Complete, Lawson Products Rebrands as Distribution Solutions Group — May 6 — One of 2022’s most notable mergers resulted in the formation of Distribution Solutions Group, which went on to rank as the No. 10 Fastener Distributor and No. 16 MRO Industrial Distributor on top distributor list.
• Grainger Expects Sales to Near $20B by 2025 — Sept. 21 — Grainger, MDM’s No. 1 Industrial Distributor which also ranked high in just about every other category on our 2022 distributor list, shared its projections for the next few years during its annal Investor Day.
• Fastenal Hits $1B in eCommerce Revenue for First Time — Nov. 8 — Another distributor that ranked highly in most categories on our 2022 distributor list, Fastenal reached $1 billion in online sales for the first time this year.
• Sonepar to Sell Vallen to Nautic Partners — Feb. 24 — In a deal involving two distributors that appeared on MDM’s 2022 Top Distributor list, Sonepar (No. 2 among Electrical, Data & Safety Distributors) sold Vallen Distribution (No. 9 MRO Industrial Distributor).
• Rexel Finalizes Winkle Acquisition — Jan. 4 — Rexel, which ranked as MDM’s No. 4 Electrical, Data & Security Distributor, finalized its acquisition of electrical distributor Winkle in one of our first news stories of the year.
• BradyIFS Makes Northeast Splash, Acquires Hill & Markes — July 6
• Motion Appoints New SVP — Aug. 1
• Ferguson Moves Primary Listing to NYSE — May 12
• Sonepar 2021 Sales Pass $28B — March 4
• Stellar Industrial Supply Acquires JLM — Jan. 13
• Stellar Industrial Supply Acquires Triad Tooling — Oct. 11
• Rexel Appoints New Digital Officer — Jan. 17
• OSHA Reveals 2022 Top 10 Safety Violations — Sept. 21
• Sonepar’s NorthEast Electrical to Acquire New England’s Rockingham Electrical — Oct. 25
• MSC Hires New SVP & Information Officer — April 18
• Fire Destroys Warehouse of SoCal Distributor Western Hose & Gasket — Aug. 3
• Stellar Industrial to Acquire Timesaver — March 14
• Rexel USA Acquires Horizon Solutions — July 14
• Wesco to Buy IT Distributor Rahi for $217M — Sept. 9
• FBM Announces Charge Increases — March 31
• LindFast Solutions Completes Star Acquisition — Aug. 1
• Motion Finalizes $1.3B Kaman Deal — Jan. 4
• SBP Holdings Acquires Rubber & Hose Distributor in NC — Sept. 1
• Fastenal February Sales Rise 21.3% — March 4
• Fastenal Posts Solid, but Slower, Gains in 3Q — Oct. 13
• MSC Industrial Grows in Midwest, Acquires Engman-Taylor — June 3
• Graybar CFO to Retire — Jan. 14
• Report: 4 in 5 Distribution & Manufacturing Decision Makers Worried About Hiring — Sept. 16
• Breaking Down Amazon Business’s New eProcurement Report — Sept. 29
• JGB Enterprises Acquires All-Serv — Jan. 7
• Grainger Named One of 100 Best Companies to Work For — April 11
• Amazon Launches Seller Storage Service to Ease Supply Chain Issues — Sept. 2
• Builders FirstSource Acquires National Lumber — Jan. 5
• Martin Supply to Acquire Quality Mill Supply in Indiana — Oct. 25
• White Cap Acquires Valley Supply Company — Oct. 4
• Sonepar USA to Acquire Electrical Distributors PEPCO, Basin-River — Sept. 29
• Hillman to Open Another Georgia Facility — Jan. 11
• BradyIFS Acquires Camden Bag and Paper — June 3
• Graybar Reports ‘Record’ Sales, Income — March 11
• White Cap Acquires CSI Geoturf — June 2
• Motion Names New Group VP — March 4
• DXP Reports Strong Year-Over-Year 3Q Earnings — Nov. 9
• Lawson Merging with TestEquity, Gexpro Services — Jan. 3
• Parts Town: 17 New Master Distribution Programs in ’22 — Oct. 13
• NetSuite Launches Ship Central App to Improve Warehouse Operations — Sept. 30

The MDM update newsletter is your best source for news and trends in the wholesale distribution industry.