In a letter to customers and suppliers, Paula C. Mendell, president of Reliable Pipe Supply Inc., San Diego, Calif., says Reliable has entered into an agreement with B.K. Thorpe to sell the business.

“For the last 85 years, Reliable Pipe Supply Co., Inc., has carried on business in San Diego as a special-order distributor of pipe, valves, fittings and steel products and a variety of services,” Mendell writes. “We could not have done this without our loyal customers and suppliers, to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude. However, the time has come our family owned business to change hands.”

Following the closing of the sale, Reliable will be operated as a division of B.K. Thorpe, which distributes valves and fittings for commercial and industrial applications and operates out of Long Beach and Bakersfield, Calif.

Reliable will be able to draw upon the resources, experience and connections of the parent company M.A. Stewart Group, which operates throughout Canada and in the southwestern and southeastern United States.