US Electrical Services Buys Electrical Wholesalers

US Electrical Services, a new company run by Richard Worthy, former CEO of Sonepar North America, has acquired Electrical Wholesalers Inc., Hartford, Conn.

Electrical Wholesalers, with approximately $160 million in annual sales, has 22 locations and about 400 employees, said Worthy. This is the first of several acquisitions expected to be announced by Worthy over the next several months.

Arthur and Robert Namerow, the two owners of Electrical Wholesalers, will remain with the company, said Worthy. John Resnick, former vice president of sales for Electrical Wholesalers, has been named company president.

Art Namerow said he and his brother decided to put the company up for sale in January. They hired an investment banker and contacted five or six potential acquirers. Namerow said they decided on US Electrical Services because all employees would be kept on and a new company president would be hired from within.

When Richard Worthy’s noncompete clause with Sonepar SA, Paris, expired earlier this year, he quickly began contacting distributors that he thought would fit into US Electrical Services. To establish US Electrical Services in the electrical wholesaling industry, he plans to acquire independent electrical distributors in targeted regional markets to build positions of strength around the United States, much as he did with Sonepar. Worthy made several dozen acquisitions to grow Sonepar’s North American operations to $2.3 billion in annual sales.

Fueling the growth of US Electrical Services will be private-equity capital from MSD Capital, the New York-based family office of Michael and Susan Dell of Dell Computer fame; and Kelso, a 30-year-old private-equity company based in New York. Anyone with inquiries about Electrical Services should contact Richard Worthy at [email protected]