Watsco Inc., Coconut Grove, FL, has agreed to buy ACR Group Inc. for $6.75 a share in cash. Houston, TX-based ACR is a $240 million distributor of air conditioning and heating products. ACR operates from 54 locations serving more than 12,000 air conditioning and heating contractors throughout Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada and New Mexico. With 503 employees, ACR distributes a full line of air conditioning and heating equipment and related parts and supplies of 20,000 SKUs. Watsco is an independent distributor of air conditioning, heating and refrigeration equipment and related parts and supplies in the HVAC industry, currently operating 385 locations serving more than 40,000 customers in 32 states.

Watsco ranked No. 5 in Supply House Times’ 2007 Premier 150 listing and No. 1 of the top 50 HVACR wholesalers. ACR Group was ranked No. 26 out of the 150, and No. 7 of the top 50 HVACR wholesalers. Albert Nahmad, Watsco's president and CEO, said, "We are very pleased to welcome ACR's employees to the Watsco family. ACR will operate as a subsidiary of Watsco under its present name and superb management team, and Watsco will provide resources where needed to assist with ACR's growth plans."