One Equity Partners (OEP) has agreed to sell Merfish United, a master distributor of tubular building products, to publicly traded Reliance Steel & Aluminum.
Merfish United is a master distributor of carbon steel pipes, copper tubing, plastic pipe, and electrical conduit to independent wholesale distributors that serve the commercial construction, industrial construction, residential construction and steel/structural fabrication sectors. Merfish United is headquartered north of Boston in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
In December 2012, OEP acquired Merfish Pipe & Supply and Pipe Exchange to form a platform for consolidating the fragmented pipe and tube master distribution industry. At that time, Gerald Merfish was named the CEO of the two acquired companies.
During OEP’s ownership, Merfish completed multiple add-on acquisitions including the 2016 buys of Kloeckner Metal’s pipe distribution business, and the buy of BBL, a standard pipe master distributor. In 2019, Merfish acquired United Pipe, a similarly sized master distributor that complemented Merfish’s geographic footprint and added new product categories including plastic, copper and electrical pipe.
“We identified Merfish as a unique business with strong growth prospects led by a talented management team,” said Jamie Koven, a senior managing director at OEP. “We’re proud of our work with Merfish United’s CEO Greg Leidner, Chairman Gerald Merfish and their team over the past eight years to create one of the largest master distributors of competitively priced standard pipe and tube products in North America.”
Today, according to OEP, Merfish United is one of the largest master distributors of steel pipe and tube products in the United States with 12 distribution centers nationwide that serve 47 states. For the twelve months through June 30, 2021, Merfish United’s net sales were approximately $500 million.
OEP believes Merfish United is positioned to benefit from the increased secular demand across the steel, plastic, copper and electrical pipe and tube segments. “We believe Merfish United is well-positioned for continued success as a critical supply chain partner for its customers,” said Matt Hughes, a managing director at OEP. “The company’s breadth of product, regularly scheduled delivery routes on more than 65 trucks from 12 distribution centers, and ability to serve the market quickly make Merfish United a unique and attractive supplier.”
OEP is a middle-market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare, and technology sectors in North America and Europe. OEP spun out of JP Morgan in 2015 and has closed more than 300 transactions worldwide since its founding in 2001. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum (NYSE: RS) is one of the largest metals service centers in the world with 300 locations in 40 states and 13 countries outside of the United States. The business distributes a full line of over 100,000 metal products to more than 125,000 customers across numerous industries. Reliance Steel was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Los Angeles.
Houlihan Lokey and KPMG were the financial advisors to OEP on this transaction.
The sale of Merfish United to Reliance Steel is expected to close within the next 60 days.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | August 10, 2021
