The owner of Footasylum has agreed to sell a components distributor headquartered in Manchester for €365m.
RS Group is to buy Distrelec from Aurelius Equity Opportunities in a deal that is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
Distrelec moved its headquarters to Manchester in April 2020, having been founded in Switzerland over 45 years ago.
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The company distributes industrial and maintenance, repair and operations products has has around 400 employees across 12 European offices.
Aurelius had acquired Distrelec as a carve-out from Dätwyler Group in March 2020.
The German asset management group bought Greater Manchester-headquartered Footasylum from JD Sports for almost £40m last year.
Matthias Täubl, CEO of Aurelius Equity Opportunities, said: "Distrelec looks back on an impressive heritage.
"The company is a trusted, long-standing partner for many of Europe's largest electronic and technical providers.
"Since joining Aurelius in March 2020, Distrelec has first stabilised and then significantly expanded its market position and successfully positioned itself as a well-established, independent participant in the European field of B2B electricals distribution, while preserving its unique heritage.
"We are convinced that RS Group will support Distrelec´s further growth trajectory over the coming years."
RS Group chief executive Simon Pryce said: "Strategic acquisitions that are value creative is part of our strategy, and I'm pleased with what I've seen of our disciplined identification, assessment, valuation and integration processes.
"These have helped to drive good progress at Risoul since we acquired it in January 2023.
"Distrelec is a complementary business to RS with excellent value creation potential under our ownership. It materially strengthens our presence in key European markets, there is a strong cultural and operational fit and there are significant potential soft and hard synergies from the combination.
"We look forward to welcoming Distrelec to RS and to realising the significant potential growth and value creation opportunities it creates for all our stakeholders."
Aurelius was advised on the transaction by Baird (M&A), OMMAX (digital), PwC (financial), Linklaters (legal), Haver & Mailänder (legal), Kearney (commercial) and EY (tax).
RS Group was advised by Greenhill (M&A), Rothschild (M&A), McKinsey (commercial, operations, integration), EY (financial, Tax, HR), and Osborne Clarke (legal, compliance).
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