Home Depot to buy Interline Brands for $1.63 bn

Home Depot Inc, the world's largest home improvement retailer, yesterday struck a deal to buy home repair and maintenance products seller Interline Brands Inc for about $1.63 billion in cash.

Under the terms of the deal that has been approved by the shareholders of Interline, Home Depot will acquire Interline for $1.625 billion in cash, and the transaction is expected to close by 1 November 2015.

Interline Brands is currently owned by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, P2 Capital Partners, and the company's management,

The Florida-based company is one of the largest national distributors of broad-line facilities maintenance, repair and operations products (MRO) in North America having a distribution network of more than 90 locations throughout the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

It serves more than 175,000 customer locations and holds leading market positions in the institutional, multi-family housing and residential end-markets.

''Addressing the needs of our Pro customers is a top priority for The Home Depot," said Craig Menear, chairman, CEO and president of Home Depot.

"Interline is a well-run company that has achieved impressive financial results over the last few years. With their seasoned leadership team, we will enhance our ability to serve the Pro – both in the store and at any desired location outside of the store – driving significant value for our customers and shareholders," he added.

Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,270 retail stores in all 50 states of the US, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.

In fiscal 2014, the Atlanta-based company had posted net profit of $6.3 billion on revenues of $83.2 billion and earnings of $6.3 billion.