Is Grainger next for Home Depot?

CHICAGO — Lake Forest, IL-based W.W. Grainger Inc., a major distributor of JanSan products, supplies and repair parts, may be next in line in the expansion plans of Atlanta-based Home Depot, according to Crain”s Chicago Business. A Robert W. Baird Co. analyst said in the report that Home Depot, the nation”s largest home improvement retailer which has gobbled up at least 12 supply companies in the past two years, would have to pay around $90 a share, or $8 billion, for Grainger which had record profits of $346 million in 2005. Grainger CEO Richard Keyser and Home Depot officials declined to comment on a possible takeover of the 80-year company which sells more than 500,000 products and 2.5 million parts out of a 6-pound, nearly 3-inch-thick catalog, through more than 400 stores, and on the Internet, according to the report. Click here to read the full article. For related information, click here. To return to today”s news, click here. To discuss this topic with other industry professionals, click here. For a free subscription to CM e-News Daily^TM, the daily news service for the building maintenance industry, click here. For a free introductory subscription (or subscription renewal) to CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management¬Æ magazine, the leading publication for the facility maintenance and contract cleaning industries, click here.