Carrier announced that it completed the acquisition of E.B. Ward & Company, a well established distributor of Carrier HVAC products.  E.B. Ward had revenues of approximately $150 million. 

Deal Analysis

Whereas the current trend in the HVAC market is geographic consolidation amongst the "front line" installers and service companies, this is a great example of an OEM buying "into the channel."  

We have seen this trend in several other industries, with OEM's looking to gain further control in the channel over their product distribution, as well as access to increased margins in the face of continued pricing pressure.  

As the HVAC industry continues to consolidate and the number of OEM manufacturers becomes fewer, expect to see this trend continue to some extent.