Sonepar () is an independent electrical products distribution company headquartered in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Operating in 40 countries through 90 brands, the group was founded in 1969 and made 32.5 billion euros in sales in 2024.

History

Sonepar was founded in France in 1969 by the Coisne and Lambert families. Their first foray into electrical components was the acquisition of Comptoir d'Électricité Franco-Belge (CEFB), which sparked a series of similar acquisitions throughout the 1970s. In the 1980s, the company grew worldwide with acquisitions in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(Technische Unie),

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(Otto Kuhmann) and

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(Lumen in Québec). The family holding Colam Entreprendre, owner of Sonepar and syndicating inheriting descendants of the Coisne and Lambert families, was created in 2000. Development in the USA was announced as soon as 1986, but really started in 1998 with the acquisition of Boston's Eagle Electric. It was followed by a spree of small and medium acquisitions, building step-by-step Sonepar's US-based distribution network. By 2004, Sonepar USA reached $1 billion in sales. Sonepar's acquisition of

Hagemeyer Hagemeyer is a business-to-business (B2B) distribution services group focusing on the markets for electrical materials, safety and other maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. It was based ...

in 2007 significantly increased the group's presence in

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and Asia-Pacific. In 2009, Sonepar became the leading electrical components distribution company worldwide, and during the following years the USA became Sonepar's number one market. In 2020, Sonepar shifted its focus on industry 4.0 and invested 1 billion dollars in its next-gen global management platform.

Activities

Sonepar is a multinational company specialized in the distribution of electrical products and services, operating in 40 countries through 90 brands (2024). The group is headquartered in Paris, France and made €32.5 billion in sales in 2024. In the USA, Sonepar is headquartered in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. The USA is the group's largest market with $13.8 billion in sales in 2023.

Governance

* 1998-2024: Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette * Since 2024: Philippe Delpech

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.sonepar.com/ Electronic component distributors French companies established in 1969 Business services companies established in 1969 Companies based in Paris Distribution companies of France