Clayton, Dubilier & Rice closed an agreement with HD Supply Holding to acquire its Waterworks business unit, a distributor of water, sewer, storm and fire protection products, for $2.5 billion. Through a carve-out transaction, Waterworks will become an independent company, wholly-owned by CD&R funds.

Waterworks is a U.S. distributor of industrial and construction products used to build and maintain underground water, wastewater and drainage infrastructure networks. The company operates a national network of 244 branches in 46 states with a sales team of more than 1,700 representatives serving a customer base of more than 37,000 municipalities, private water companies and professional contractors. Waterworks will continue to be headquartered in St. Louis.

Jim Berges, a CD&R Partner, will serve as chairman of Waterworks. Steve LeClair, who has served as the president of Waterworks since 2011, will become the CEO.

“This transaction is an important milestone in the strategic growth of Waterworks,” LeClair said. “The Waterworks team is very excited to reunite with CD&R to accelerate our growth and productivity initiatives.”

CD&R has obtained committed financing from Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Deutsche Bank AG Cayman Islands Branch, Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch, JPMorgan and RBC Capital Markets.

Barclays, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Deutsche Bank Securities, J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to CD&R. Debevoise & Plimpton served as CD&R’s legal advisor in the transaction.

Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm with offices in New York and London.