Rexel Agrees to Acquire U.S. Infrastructure Distributor GCG for $1.4 Billion

This is a concrete, forward-looking control acquisition: Rexel announced an agreement to acquire GCG for a $1.4 billion enterprise value, with disclosed financing and an expected closing by the end of 2026. The transaction changes Rexel’s business perimeter and U.S. infrastructure exposure, while GCG’s explicitly stated revenue and EBITA expectations provide additional evidence of materiality. The occurrence timestamp uses the Reuters/TradingView source timestamp as the best available proxy because the exact real-world announcement time is not separately stated; the expected closing date is not used as the occurrence timestamp. RXL.PA is approved as the direct acquirer. WCC is approved as a listed competitor with documented overlap in U.S. utility, data-center, and infrastructure distribution; the more indirect equipment suppliers and broad industrial distributors are excluded because the provided evidence does not establish a sufficiently material stakeholder-specific effect.