Sonepar USA plans to combine and rebrand its Hagemeyer North America-Industrial Distribution Group (IDG) business under the Vallen brand as of mid-October 2016.
Vallen Distribution Inc., headquartered in Charleston, S.C., will continue the companies’ work as a provider of industrial supply chain solutions for customers across North America. The new name is the first step in a comprehensive rebranding program, with a full brand launch scheduled for the week of October 10th, 2016, Sonepar said in a release.
Hagemeyer has owned the Vallen name since it acquired the Houston-based safety distributor in 1999, during the height of the integrated supply craze. Sonepar bought Hagemeyer's U.S. operations including Vallen from Rexel in 2007 after Rexel bought Hagemeyer. Sonepar added IDG in September 2014 and put the two operations together that year.
“Since the combination in 2014, we have worked diligently to strategically integrate both businesses to better serve our customers’ needs across the U.S.” said Lisa Mitchell, president of Hagemeyer-IDG.
Sonepar said the Vallen name, which has a Latin root meaning “strong, vigorous and powerful,” is already well-known in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The use of the name, which in the U.S. is typically associated with safety equipment, will expand to encompass all U.S. business lines of Hagemeyer-IDG. The two Sonepar operations in Canada and Mexico that also use the Vallen name will continue unchanged.