Report: QXO bids for Beacon
Greenwich, Connecticut-based QXO, led by billionaire businessman Brad Jacobs, has reportedly bid to acquire Herndon, Virginia-based Beacon Roofing Supply.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, broke the story on Monday. A QXO spokesman said the company declines to comment on “Beacon rumors.”
Beacon is the largest publicly traded distributor of roofing materials and complementary building products in the United States and Canada. Its market value, according to news reports, is in excess of $6 billion.
In its most recent quarter , Beacon reported sales of $2.78 billion — a record and a 7.3 percent increase. Beacon reported net income of $145.3 million in the quarter.
QXO was conceived and designed to enter the building products space in a big way. In September, QXO’s $9.4 billion bid to acquire the French electrical distributor Rexel was rebuffed. QXO is no longer pursuing Rexel.
In an interview broadcast earlier this year, Jacobs said he was attracted to the building product distribution space by the potential to achieve growth through the application of technology and M&A.
“There's many other industries that are nice, but I'm not going to be able to get to $50 billion,” he said. "I want to get to $50 billion. So in this industry, there's a clear path of how I can do that.”
During the course of his investing career, Jacobs has raised $30 billion of debt and equity capital. He’s also led some 500 merger and acquisition transactions in multiple industries,
Jacobs is also the author of recently published How to Make a Few Billion Dollars.
