LUMBERYARDS

HD Supply Repair and Remodel, a California chain of pro-oriented retail warehouses, will open its newest location in Santa Ana on Oct. 13. This will be Repair & Remodel’s eighth store in the greater Los Angeles area and its 11th store in California.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its rating on the unsecured notes of Building FirstSource to 'CC' from 'CCC-' and revised its recovery rating to '6' from '5' to reflect diminished recovery prospects, given a higher level of first-lien obligations, the credit rating company announced. The '6' recovery rating indicates an expectation for a negligible (0% to 10%) recovery in the event of a payment default.

US LBM Holdings has acquired H & H Lumber Co. of Superior, Wis., which will become part of the Lyman Lumber Co. 

H&H serves the northern Wisconsin and greater Duluth, Minn., markets, providing home builders, specialty contractors and professional remodelers with a full-suite of building materials and services. The company joins Lyman Lumber Co., a US LBM division that is one of the largest building material suppliers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Bulk alloy developer Liquidmetal Technologies has signed a Manufacturers' Represenation Agreement with Technical Marketing and Sales, a sales and marketing firm that specifically deals in specialty metals.

TM&S specializes in Powder Metal and MIM (Metal Injection Molding) parts. Bruce Bromage, Liquidmetal's EVP of business development and operations, said in a statement that TM&S customers often note the cost and performance advantages of using Liquidmetal products.

A former co-founder of Building Industry Partners has formed a new venture that targets privately owned “middle market” LBM companies. Anchor Peabody LLC, founded by Jason Fraler, offers private equity capital, mergers and acquisitions and debt advisory to the building and construction industry. 

Joining the firm’s advisory board is Tony DeCarlo, the former CEO of Lumbermens Merchandising Corporation (LMC).

In a report entitled "Commercial Construction Markets are Helping to Repair U.S. Building Materials,” Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has posited that commercial construction and the slowed rate of spending decline for that sector has helped the overall credit availability for construction projects. 

Standard & Poor's economists are projecting a 14% increase in residential housing in 2011 over 2010, and spending on repairs and remodeling possibly increasing about 5%.

Two congressmen and a handful of "priority issues" kick-start a Legislative Conference.

"As the U.S. housing market continues its recovery, we believe now is the ideal time to position Builders FirstSource for its next phase of growth and value creation," says Builders FirstSource CEO Floyd Sherman.