Border States Boosts Presence in Carolinas Adding Shealy Electrical Wholesalers

Border States Electric (BSE), Fargo, N.D., has agreed to purchase Shealy Electrical Wholesalers, West Columbia, S.C., with 17 locations throughout North and South Carolina. Shealy will join BSE August 1, pending regulatory approval.

Border States said it will establish new southeast region headquarters in Columbia, S.C., with David White, Shealy president, serving as the region vice president. Shealy will continue to be led by current Shealy CEO Bill DeLoache, along with Brent Spear, COO, and White, president. The name will change to Shealy Electrical Wholesalers, a division of Border States.

“We spent a lot of time looking at different leadership and ownership transition options, keeping in mind what would be best for our customers, employees and supplier partners,” said Shealy CEO DeLoache. “After much consideration, we concluded that an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) best met these objectives. Border States is a great distributor and an established, top-performing ESOP company.”

Shealy Electrical Wholesale is believed to be Border States’ largest acquisition to date. Shealy has been a mainstay on the Electrical Wholesaling Top 200 list, ranking #41 on the latest list, based on 2015 sales, with sales of over $200 million and 350 employees in its 17 locations.

Shealy’s history has included some interesting acquisitions, including Construction Technologies, which allowed Shealy to develop an international side to its business supplying U.S. government and Department of Defense operations overseas. Even more significant was its merger in 2011 with Electrical Distributors Inc., a longtime competitor in the Carolinas electrical markets that gave Shealy a strong new presence of six locations in the Charlotte, N.C. metro area.