McJunkin Corp. (Charleston, WV) announced that one of its subsidiaries has signed a letter of intent to acquire Valvax Corp. Founded in 1981, Valvax is a distributor of valves, engineered valves, valve automation and specialty products in the Midwest market. The firm is headquartered in Cincinnati and has offices in Columbus, OH, Indianapolis and Evansville, IN, Charleston, WV and Pittsburgh.

The transaction is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2003. The management of Valvax, headed by president Joe Herzog, will stay with the merged business after the closing.