Sonepar Acquires Treadway Electric in Arkansas and Ontario’s Dixon Electric

Fresh from two huge California acquisitions, Sonepar announced the plans of its Irby subsidiary to purchase the assets of Treadway Electric Co., Inc., Little Rock, Ark., and the acquisition of Dixon Electric, Sudbury, Ontario, by its Canadian unit, Sonepar Canada. Both deals are expected to close next month.

With the acquisitions of Treadway Electric and Dixon Electric and its purchases earlier this year of Independent Electric Supply, San Carlos, Calif., and OneSource Distributors Inc., Oceanside, Calif., Sonepar has added well over $760 million sales to its North American branch network.

With more than 50 employees in four locations, Dixon Electric has been serving Ontario’s electrical contractors and the mining, forestry, pulp and paper industries for more than 50 years. Sonepar Canada has more than 1,500 employees in over 90 branches in its six operating companies: CenturyVallen, Gescan, Lumen, Osso Electric, Sesco and Texcan.

Established in 1905, Treadway Electric says it’s Arkansas’ oldest electrical distributor and that it employs more than 100 people in 14 locations throughout the state. The company was ranked #109 on Electrical Wholesaling’s latest Top 200 listing, with $55.7 million in 2010 sales, and earlier this year sold its branches in Springdale and Fort Smith, Ark., to Elliott Electric Supply, Nacogdoches, Texas. A report in Electrical Marketing’s March 11 issue said a key reason Treadway sold the branches to Elliott Electric was because they did not stock Square D products, one of its key vendors.

A Sonepar press release said Treadway’s executive team will continue to play a major role with new responsibilities within Irby. Terry Rogers, Treadway’s president, will transition into the role of district operations manager and Lewis Casey, a sales executive, will become district sales manager. Casey said in a press release announcing the acquisition, “Irby is a respected leader in our industry. I am pleased about the merger of our organizations and anticipate only great things to come for our Arkansas customers.” Terry Rogers added in that press statement, “Not only will this benefit our employees, but also our customers and manufacturers. Irby is a great place to work, and in that respect our cultures are very similar.”

Michael Wigton, Irby’s president, said in that release the acquisition demonstrates the company’s growth strategy and that it will strengthen its commercial contractor footprint in Arkansas. Irby was founded in 1926 and is based in Jackson, Miss. The company has 50 locations in 21 states that serve the industrial, contractor, commercial and utility customer segments.