Lab Safety Supply Focuses on Growth Through Acquisitions

Lab Safety Supply (LSS) of Chicago has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of direct marketers Inspection Equipment Inc. and Construction Book Express Inc., both based in Hauppauge, NY. Terms were not disclosed for the deal that’s expected to close by month’s end.

LSS plans to maintain each company’s brand-name for selling tools, instruments and reference materials. Together Inspection Equipment and Construction Book have more than 85,000 active customers and in excess of $20 million in annual sales. The firms target inspectors, designers, architects, engineers and electricians.

“Our strategy is to accelerate LSS’s growth by finding premier direct marketing companies that complement the company’s targeted catalog approach,” said in statement Richard L. Keyser, chairman and CEO of W.W. Grainger Inc., the parent company of LSS.