(NewsNation) — With no ribbon cutting or public fanfare, a $1.5 billion hardware wholesaler has effectively moved its headquarters from Chicago to Fort Wayne, as Do It Best announces its acquisition of True Value, a long time competitor with a legacy brand.

“This is a monumental day in the history of this company, and it’s worthy of celebration,” Do It Best CEO Dan Starr told NewsNation local affiliate WANE. “We’re doubling the size of this organization, and more important than just our growth, we’re going to be able to serve more than 4,000 new retailers who have a need, and that’s what we exist for.”

Starr said the company now has 400 new employees in Chicago, who will continue to serve True Value stores. He expected to see growth at the Do It Best headquarters at Electric Works, as well.

“We just closed on the transaction today,” Starr noted. “It’s going to take a minute for us to get our arms around their operations and identify the best way for us to move forward and kind of combine these two great companies.”

While both have a similar number of member stores and distribution centers, Do It Best reported 2023 revenue of $4.6 billion, three times more than True Value.

Do It Best announced in October that the private equity owners of True Value were interested in selling the wholesaler, which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, to Do It Best, which had become the “stalking horse” or lead bidder.

Starr remembered the phone call from the private equity owner that started the process, telling Starr not to miss the solicitation email in his inbox.

“And so that was the first day of the vacation that did not happen,” Starr laughed.

The acquisition creates the world’s largest network of independent home improvement stores. True Value will operate as a separate subsidiary but the message from both brands will be the same.

“Buy local,” said Starr. “The buy local movement is a very strong thing, regardless of retail brand. So many of our members are known in their local community as the place to go to.”