Why This Matters: The acquisition gives Hillman its first U.S. master distribution platform for industrial fasteners and expands its addressable industrial market to approximately $3 billion.
Hillman Solutions Corp. has completed its approximately $315 million acquisition of Kanebridge LLC, giving the hardware supplier its first U.S. master distribution platform in the industrial fastener market.
Cincinnati-based Hillman has closed the previously announced acquisition of Kanebridge, a master distributor of commercial and military-grade fasteners. The purchase price is subject to customary adjustments. Hillman announced the deal on Aug. 3.
Kanebridge supplies more than 44,000 fastener stock-keeping units to distributors across the U.S. and Canada. The company has served distributors for more than 50 years and operates warehouses in Illinois and California, where it stocks inch and metric fasteners for same-day shipment.
The acquisition marks a significant expansion of Hillman’s industrial distribution business. Kanebridge gives Hillman its first U.S. master distribution platform for industrial fasteners and expands the company’s estimated addressable industrial market to approximately $3 billion.
“Kanebridge is a strategic acquisition that establishes our position as a long-tail supplier to industrial distributors in the U.S.,” Hillman President and CEO Jon Michael Adinolfi said. “Kanebridge diversifies our customer base and expands our presence in the industrial distribution channel, which is positioned to benefit from secular tailwinds.”
The deal also broadens Hillman’s customer base beyond the retail and professional distribution markets it traditionally serves. Hillman supplies hardware and related products to home improvement, hardware and farm and fleet retailers, as well as professional distribution and industrial customers.
Kanebridge operates as a master distributor, supplying fasteners to other distributors rather than primarily selling to end users. Its large inventory allows distributor customers to source less commonly stocked products without carrying the same breadth of inventory themselves.
The acquisition therefore moves Hillman further into the business-to-business industrial distribution channel while adding a specialized fastener operation with an established distributor customer base.
Hillman financed the transaction with cash on hand, borrowing under its existing asset-based revolving credit facility and a new $200 million term loan.
Founded in 1964, Hillman carries more than 111,000 stock-keeping units, including fasteners, hardware, project supplies and key and engraving products and services. The company has a field sales organization of more than 1,200 employees and direct-to-store distribution capabilities.
Kanebridge has supplied commercial and military-grade fasteners to distributors nationwide for more than five decades. Its 44,000-plus stock-keeping units are distributed from its Illinois and California warehouses.
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