Schaedler Yesco Acquires 2 From Rexel

Schaedler YESCO, one of Pennsylvania’s leading independent distributors and perennially on Pennsylvania’s “Best Place to Work” list last week announced that it acquired two branches from Rexel. The locations are in Pittston, PA (northeastern Pennsylvania) and Johnson City, NY (just over the the border).

According to an email shared with its supplier community:

The email was signed by Farrah Mittel, President of Schaedler YESCO, and Mark Daniel, SVP and GM Rexel Automation.

Given that Schaedler YESCO has a strong Rockwell presence in central Pennsylvania, the expansion into northeast Pennsylvania makes sense.

The Rexel divestiture is interesting as it is the first known sale of some locations since Rexel sold three southwest Ohio Rockwell locations to CBT in December, 2011.

The question then becomes:

• Did Rexel sell because of the performance of the locations?
• Did they sell because some location pruning is planned?
• Knowing that Rockwell is beginning their periodic reauthorization process, did Rexel not want to make needed investments into the locations?
• Not that Rockwell would exert any influence, but could there have been some “indication of preference”?

And then the next question becomes, if this was driven by Rockwell’s reauthorization process, could Rexel be reevaluating other “orphan” Rockwell locations recognizing that Rockwell locations are best served when they have contiguous ownership? (Here’s a brochure with the list of Rexel’s Rockwell locations.)

Further, could this deal be an early indication of the potential for other small Rockwell distributors to be sold driven by investments / expectations in the authorization process (personnel, technology, etc)?

For the staff of the Pittston and Johnson City locations, congratulations. While you are moving from an international distributor, you’re moving to a quality company that is known for being a great workplace and a commitment to family-ownership and independence.