Exhibit 31.2

                       SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT - FINANCE AND
                      CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I, Dennis J. Letham, certify that:

(1)   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Anixter
      International Inc.;

(2)   Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this quarterly report;

(3)   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
      material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
      flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
      quarterly report;

(4)   The other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and
      maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
      Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and have:

      a)    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

      b)    Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
            and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
            the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of
            the end of the period covered by this report based on such
            evaluation; and

      c)    Disclosed in this report any change in internal control over
            financial reporting that occurred during the most recent fiscal year
            that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
            affect, the internal control over financial reporting; and

(5)   The other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most
      recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
      auditors and the audit committee of the board of directors:

      a)    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
            reasonably likely to adversely affect the ability to record,
            process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b)    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
            other employees who have a significant role in the internal control
            over financial reporting.

May 11, 2004                            /s/ Dennis J. Letham
                                        ------------------------------------
                                           Dennis J. Letham
                                           Senior Vice President-Finance and
                                           Chief Financial Officer