WESCO Buys Hill Country Electric Supply to Build Commercial Presence in Texas

WESCO International Inc., Pittsburgh, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Hill Country Electric Supply, Austin, Texas. Closing is expected to occur this month. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Hill Country generates approximately $140 million in annual revenues from nine locations in central and south Texas, primarily in the Austin and San Antonio areas.

Hill Country Electric Supply  focuses on the commercial construction market and was ranked #56 on Electrical Wholesaling’s most recent Top 200 ranking, while WESCO was ranked #2 on the listing. HT Capital Advisors, New York, was the exclusive financial advisor to Hill Country Electric Supply for the transaction.

Scott Schieffer, Hill Country Eelctric Supply’s president, founded the company in 1998 after working for Rexel. He is one of a group of independent electrical distributors who left the global company to start their own businesses. Others that made the transition include Steve and Mike Blazer of Blazer Electric Supply, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Al and Gary Russello of Granite Electrical Supply Inc., Sacramento, Calif., who sold their company, Pacific Electric Supply, to Rexel in 1997 and in 2003 started up Granite Electrical Supply with Jim Flynn and Bob Powers. Hill Country Electric Supply had been a member of IMARK buying/marketing group.

In a WESCO press release on the acquisition, John Engel, WESCO’s chairman, president, and CEO said, “Hill Country is a well-established electrical distributor with strong brand recognition in the Texas construction market and a solid organic growth history.”

Schieffer said in the press release, “We are excited to begin this new chapter in Hill Country’s history with WESCO.  We share WESCO’s strong focus on customer service and together we expect to deliver even more value for our customers.”

In 2014, WESCO had 2014 annual sales were approximately $7.9 billion and employed approximately 9,400 people.