Bergen to Purchase Supplier : Transaction: The Orange-based drug wholesaler still needs U.S. approval to buy provider of hospital supplies.

Bergen Brunswig Corp., the nation’s second-largest drug wholesaler, said Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to buy a North Carolina provider of hospital supplies for about $19 million.

The company said it expects to close the cash-and-stock deal for Southeastern Hospital Supply Corp. in about 30 days. The purchase, however, requires approval by federal regulators.

Neil Dimick, Bergen Brunswig’s chief financial officer, said the purchase should increase the Orange-based drug supplier’s annual revenue by about $100 million.

Bergen Brunswig had revenue of $6.8 billion in its most recent fiscal year, which ended last August.

Southeastern, founded in 1947, has distribution centers in Fayetteville, Greenville, N.C., and Richmond, Va. Its operations would be folded into Bergen Brunswig’s Durr Medical subsidiary. That subsidiary was formed in September, 1992, when Bergen Brunswig purchased Durr-Fillauer Medical Inc. in Alabama for $470 million.

The proposed addition to Bergen’s Durr Medical subsidiary would broaden the subsidiary’s presence in the Southeast, one of two U.S. regions where the medical industry is growing fastest.

Bergen Brunswig stock closed Wednesday at $16.125 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, down 37.5 cents a share from Tuesday.