Oliver Van Horn sold to Wurth Group
New Orleans-based regional industrial supply and machine tool distributor Oliver H. Van Horn Co., LLC recently announced its sale to the privately owned Wurth Group, headquartered in Kunzelsau, Germany.
Lee Eagan, CEO of Oliver H. Van Horn Co., said the 107-year-old company will continue to employ all 75 employees throughout its seven branches in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama under the name Oliver Van Horn Co., LLC – a member of the Wurth Group.
Owned and operated continuously by the Van Horn family since 1903, the company specializes in abrasives, cutting tools, machine tools and related maintenance and repair products primarily in the metal working marketplace.
"This acquisition extends our business interests into a new but complimentary market category that we have looked at for some time," said Robert H. Stolz, CEO of North America for The Wurth Group. "Van Horn's reputation in this region is legendary. We're honored to have this outstanding firm and its terrific employees join our family of companies. And we are looking forward to Lee and his team helping us to continue to expand this MRO segment of our business across the USA."
Eagan, who will remain CEO of the company, emphasized that the sale will have no impact on its mission to provide outstanding service to its customers. "Our operating philosophy for more than a century has always been customer focused," he said. "We know we are joining a company now whose core philosophy in this regard matches ours, and whose resources will simply allow us to continue to find new means for only improving what we do day after day for our customers everywhere."
The Wurth Group's business holdings are distributed across 84 countries with 400 active companies, generating approximately $11 billion worldwide. The company currently employs 60,000 people, and is reported to have the world's largest full-time direct sales employees, numbering almost 30,000.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Applied Industrial Technologies. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dr. Bharani Nagarathnam and Frank Hurtte, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
