Franz Haniel & Cie. is a five-headed hydra. The holding company is comprised of a handful of operating divisions -- Celesio, CWS-boco, ELG, TAKKT, and METRO -- each of which specializes in a different core business. Haniel derives the bulk of its sales from distributing pharmaceuticals to pharmacies worldwide through drug wholesaler Celesio. Its other divisions offer washroom and workwear products and services; stainless steel scrap recycling; mail-order of office and warehouse equipment; and retail store operations. Haniel has operations in some 30 countries. Members of the Haniel family have controlled Franz Haniel and Cie. GmbH company since its founding in 1756.

Alliance Boots is a leading international pharmacy-led health and beauty group offering a wide range of products and services to our customers. Working in close partnership with manufacturers and pharmacists, our two core business activities are pharmacy-led health and beauty retailing and pharmaceutical wholesaling. Through our daily actions and operations, our teams play a significant role in contributing to the overall improvement of healthcare in the communities we serve. We are proud to work within such a unique sector, helping millions of consumers and patients look and feel their best. Alliance Boots is privately-owned and employs over 115,000* people. Its wholesale and distribution network serves over 150,000* pharmacies, doctors, health centres and hospitals from over 360* pharmaceutical wholesale distribution centres in 16* countries. We operate more than 3,250* health and beauty retail stores in ten* countries, of which just under 3,150* have a pharmacy.

Educational Development Corporation operates as a trade publisher of a line of children’s books in the United States. It distributes children’s books published by Usborne Publishing Limited in the United Kingdom. Educational Development Corporation offers various books, including Touchy-Feely board books, jigsaw puzzle books, activity and flashcards, adventure and search books, art books, sticker books, and foreign language books, as well as science and math titles, and chapter books and novels. It sells books through two divisions, Usborne Books and More, and Publishing. The Usborne Books and More division distributes books through independent consultants, who hold book showings in individual homes; and through book fairs, direct sales, and Internet sales. It also distributes these titles to school and public libraries. The Publishing division markets books to bookstores, toy stores, specialty stores, museums, and other retail outlets. It distributes books through commissioned trade representatives who call on book, toy, specialty stores, and other retail outlets; and through in-house marketing by telephone to the trade. Educational Development Corporation was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Airgas, Inc.(NYSE: ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related hardgoods, such as welding supplies. Airgas is also a leading U.S. distributor of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants and ammonia products.Airgas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter McCausland founded the company in 1982. Through approximately 400 acquisitions and internal growth, Airgas has built the largest national distribution network in the packaged gas industry. More than 14,000 employees work in more than 1,100 locations includes branches, cylinder fill plants, production facilities, specialty gas laboratories, and regional distribution centers to serve a diversified customer base. Airgas markets through multiple channels, including its own branches and outside sales force, a Strategic Accounts Team focused on large customers, distributors and resellers, telesales, catalog and eBusiness channels.

Cash-Wa Distributing supplies food, produce, beverages, equipment, cleaning supplies, and more to foodservice operators and convenience stores throughout Nebraska and in parts of nine other Upper Plains states. It operates three distribution centers, and serves more than 3,500 customers. The family owned and operated company was formed in 1934 as a candy and tobacco wholesaler and was purchased by the Henning family in 1957. Cash-Wa Distributing is a member of the UniPro distribution cooperative.

Founded in 1992 as an industrial, oil, and food products supplier, ITERA moved into gas markets in 1994. ITERA had interests in chemicals, construction, finance, insurance, securities, and agriculture, but shed most of these to focus on gas production and marketing. ITERA Group Ltd. company has teamed up with Gazprom to develop infrastructure to deliver gas condensate from production sites. Executives, including CEO Igor Makarov, control ITERA Group Ltd. company. Rags to riches -- Russian style. ITERA Group, Russia's largest private gas trader, delivers natural gas via pipeline to several former Soviet republics. It also produces natural gas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region in Western Siberia.

Associated Grocers of New England (AGNE) is a leading wholesale grocery distributor. The organization serves about 500 independent grocers and convenience stores in half a dozen New England states. AGNE supplies customers with bakery goods, fresh produce, and meat, as well as general grocery items and other merchandise. The grocery distributor also offers such retail support services as advertising, marketing, and merchandising. As part of its business, it operates a small number of stores under the Harvest Market and Vista Foods banners. The cooperative was formed as New Hampshire Wholesale Grocers in 1946.

Imperial Distributors reigns over more than 1,000 retailers throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, delivering health and personal care products, cosmetics, seasonal items, and other non-food general merchandise to supermarkets. Customers include independent retail stores and large supermarket chains such as Foodtown, Roche Bros., and Stop & Shop. Imperial Distributors delivers more than 200,000 products per day from its warehouse and distribution facility. It also provides services including marketing, accounting, merchandising, logistics, and data management. The company was founded in 1939 by Frank Sleeper, father of CEO Mike Sleeper.

Unidrug Distribution Group actually distributes thousands of drugs. Unidrug Distribution Group (better known as UDG) provides warehousing and distribution of prescription drugs and over-the counter medicines throughout the UK. Principals represented by the company include a host of leading drug manufacturers, such as Abbot Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Schering Plough. UDG is a joint venture of Ireland's United Drug and Switzerland-based Alloga, which is part of UK-based Alliance Boots (formerly Alliance Unichem).

The Patel brothers founded Waymade Healthcare in 1984, building off of the pharmacy business began by Vijay Patel in 1975. You might think the Patel brothers have it made in a big way, but they're not resting on their laurels. The owners of Waymade Healthcare, Vijay and Bhikhu Patel grew up impoverished in Kenya, but today oversee one of the UK's leading pharmaceutical distribution firms. Waymade Healthcare supplies pharmacists and hospitals in the UK and abroad with branded and generic prescription drugs. Its subsidiary Amdipharm (launched in 2002) develops novel pharmaceuticals.

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