Clayton, Dubilier & Rice to Acquire Waterworks

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has reached an agreement with HD Supply Holding, Inc. to acquire its Waterworks business unit for $2.5 billion. Through a carve-out transaction, Waterworks will become an independent company, wholly-owned by CD&R funds.

Waterworks is a leading U.S. distributor of industrial and construction products used to build and maintain underground water, wastewater and drainage infrastructure networks. The company operates a national network of 244 branches in 46 states with a sales team of more than 1,700 sales representatives serving a diverse customer base of more than 37,000 municipalities, private water companies and professional contractors. Waterworks will continue to be headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

“Waterworks represents an attractive opportunity to invest in the leading distributor in the U.S. waterworks market, which stands to benefit from tailwinds in construction activity and municipal infrastructure spending,” said CD&R Partner J.L. Zrebiec.  “With strong national, regional and local positions and a reputation for customer service and reliability, the company is in a very favorable long-term position.”

Jim Berges, a CD&R Partner, will serve as Chairman of Waterworks.  Berges was Chairman of HD Supply from 2007 to 2015, and previously served as Vice Chairman and President of Emerson Electric Co.

Steve LeClair, who has served as the President of Waterworks since 2011, will become the chief executive officer.

“This transaction is an important milestone in the strategic growth of Waterworks,” said LeClair. “The Waterworks team is very excited to reunite with CD&R to accelerate our growth and productivity initiatives.”