United States became Rexel Inc. in 1995; Rexel Italia was born in 2000 from the merger of 10 Italian subsidiaries; and the first joint venture was formed in China under the name Rexel Hailongxing. Evolution of the group The PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute) Group announced the sale of Rexel, which was finalized on March 16, 2005, with the Ray Investment consortium acquiring shares in the company. The consortium members included Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Eurazeo and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity,. Rexel was de-listed from the Paris Stock Exchange on April 25, 2005. The Rexel Group continued refocusing on its core business. It disposed of certain assets while embarking on a series of acquisitions. In addition to the 29 small and medium-sized acquisitions it made over the period, in 2006 the group bought the American distribution subsidiary of General Electric, GE Supply, which it renamed Gexpro. That moved Rexel into the number one position in North America and Asia-Pacific. Gexpro reinforced the group's provision of services to major industrial accounts. In 2007, Rexel teamed up with the Sonepar Group to make a joint offer to purchase the Hagemeyer Group which was then number 3 worldwide. In 2007, Rexel changed its legal status to become a French public limited company (société anonyme) with a management board and supervisory board. The company was listed on the Paris stock exchange on April 4, 2007 on the Euronext market. In March 2008, Rexel acquired the majority of Hagemeyer's European assets (Elektroskandia in Scandinavia, ABM in Spain and Newey & Eyre in the United Kingdom). Following that acquisition, Rexel doubled its total sales in Europe, increased the number of points of sale by 50%, and entered the markets of five new countries (Finland, Norway and the Baltic States). Rexel was the largest or second-largest market player in Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden and Finland. In 2008, Rexel held around 9% of the world market for the distribution of professional electrical equipment. With 2,500 points of sale in 34 countries, the group was a leading player in this sector. In 2011, the company began seeking acquisitions in emerging markets. As a result, Rexel strengthened its position in China with the acquisition of Lucky Well Zhineng and notably penetrated markets in Brazil (Nortel Suprimentos Industriais), India (Yantra Automation) and Peru (where it bought V&F Technologia, a Lima-based distributor of electrical equipment distributor). In early 2012, the group acquired