Value Added Distributors and Exotic Automation & Supply have merged to form a 38-location industrial fluid power and automation distributor serving customers across the Midwest and South.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The combined company will operate 38 locations, including Value Added Distributors’ 18 facilities across the Midwest and South and Exotic Automation & Supply’s 20 locations in Michigan and Indiana.
The transaction is the first major acquisition by Value Added Distributors since private equity firm Rotunda Capital Partners acquired the company in 2024 as part of its strategy to build a national value-added distribution platform.
Mike Kostelnik will remain chief executive officer of the combined company. Steve Orlando, formerly president of Exotic Automation & Supply, will become president. Tom Marino, Exotic’s chief executive officer, will remain with the company as a board member and equity holder.
The combined company will distribute hydraulic and pneumatic components, motion control products, sealing products, filtration and lubrication systems, compressed air equipment and related industrial products. It also provides custom fabrication, hose assembly, kitting, vendor-managed inventory and aftermarket support services for industrial maintenance, repair and operations customers, original equipment manufacturers and mobile equipment manufacturers.
Executives said the merger expands the company’s geographic footprint, supplier network and value-added service capabilities while providing additional scale in purchasing, warehouse operations and back-office functions.
Value Added Distributors was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Shawano, Wisconsin. The company supplies hoses, tubes, seals, couplings and related fluid power products to specialty vehicle original equipment manufacturers and other mobile equipment customers.
Exotic Automation & Supply, founded in 1963 and headquartered in New Hudson, Michigan, distributes fluid power, motion control and automation products and engineered solutions through 20 locations serving industrial customers in Michigan and Indiana.
The merger is the latest example of ongoing consolidation in industrial distribution, where private equity firms continue to combine regional distributors to expand geographic coverage, strengthen technical capabilities and increase operating scale.
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