CHICAGO — Either Bull Moose Tube Co. or its parent company, Caparo Plc, is rumored to be in a deal to acquire Elkhart Metal Distributing Inc., according to sources familiar with the situation.

Chesterfield, Mo.-based Bull Moose Tube and London-based Caparo declined to confirm talk of the rumored transaction.

"There is no official comment at present," Caparo Industries Plc group marketing manager Krassi Stoyanova said in an e-mail to AMM. Bull Moose Tube business development manager Randy Bishop also declined to comment.

Elkhart Metal president John Martin confirmed "there is something going on" but declined to specify further. Asked if Elkhart, Ind.-based Elkhart Metal had been acquired by Caparo, Martin said he was not "at liberty to discuss any of that in the short run."

If completed, such an acquisition would give tubing manufacturer Bull Moose Tube a presence in the distribution sector. Some distributors have expressed concern about such a move, noting that manufacturing and distribution tend to be more separate in the United States than in European markets.