Rexel Inc., Dallas, has agreed to buy GE Supply, a unit of General Electric, for $725 million.

Rexel Inc., the North American subsidiary of Rexel SA, Paris, posted $2.5 billion in sales in 2005, has 4,945 employees and 300 branches in 34 states. The company ranks as the nation’s sixth largest electrical distributor, according to Electrical Wholesaling’s 2006 Top 200 listing of electrical distributors. Rexel SA, the world’s largest electrical distributors, has 1,686 branches in 24 countries.

GE Supply, headquartered in Shelton, Conn., is a leading distributor of electrical products produced by GE and more than 200 other manufacturers. With approximately 2,500 employees in more than 150 locations around the world, GE Supply’s core electrical distribution activities operate mainly in the United States. It ranked No. 4 on Electrical Wholesaling’s most recent Top 200. With $2.2 billion in pro forma 2005 annual revenues for the transferred business to Rexel, the combined distributors could capture the No. 1 spot.

Rexel Inc. also recently acquired Capitol Light & Supply, Hartford, Conn., one of New England’s largest independent electrical distributors.

The GE Supply acquisition is subject to consent of Rexel’s senior lenders and is expected to close by early August.

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