HD Supply adds executive and gets new deal on $3B in loans

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta-based HD Supply announced late last week it has hired a new high-level executive and secured extensions on loans totaling more than $3 billion.

The company hired John Stegeman as executive president over the the electrical, plumbing, waterworks and White Cap units and the Canadian division. His base salary will be $725,000, and he will receive a $450,000 signing bonus,  according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He starts in April.

Stegeman most recently served as CEO of Ferguson Enterprises, a Virginia-based rival of HD Supply. The companies specialize in wholesale distribution of heavy duty equipment and other supplies to contractors, builders and engineers.

HD Supply also successfully received amendments from several lenders on more than $3 billion in loans, giving the company more time to pay off the credit. The company has struggled during the recession as business from home builders and contractors dried up. HD Supply laid off more than 4,000 employees as it restructured to weather the downturn.

“The environment requires us to work harder than ever,” Joe DeAngelo, CEO of HD Supply, said in a statement. “But in doing so, we are creating a company that is successful during the down-cycle, here for the long haul.”

HD Supply is a former division of Home Depot, which sold the unit in 2007 to private investors. Home Depot still owns a 12.5 percent interest in the company.