3 Companies Open 4 Presents (Acquisitions) Under Their Tree

Tis the time of the year for gift giving and companies continue to bestow gifts unto themselves and the management teams they are buying with late season gifts.

Just this week there have been 4 manufacturing companies acquired.

Signify Acquires Fluence

File this under “you don’t know what you don’t know about lighting!” A company that few, if any, in the electrical / lighting distribution space knew, and was owned by ams OSRAM, Fluence, was sold to Signify. And it wasn’t a small deal. The company had sales of $141 million and was sold for $277 million. The company employs over 200 people.

Signify looks at the deal as an opportunity to grow its agriculture lighting platform (and this market is expected to be almost a $2 billion market by 2024!

And here’s the kicker … check out their reseller locator. Tough to find a reseller (distributor) that you’ve heard of. They use a totally different sales channel and have been very successful.

The product is targeted at the horticultural market and segments into the cannabis sector and food, there is much opportunity in the “food” market.

It will be interesting to see if Signify keeps the business focused on this “alternative” sales channel, migrates it to its traditional channel or, perhaps seeks the best of both worlds and utilizes both channels.

This brand / division will operate under Signify’s agricultural lighting division in its Division Digital Solutions. It makes one wonder if interested electrical / lighting agents, reps and/or distributors can gain access to the line. While many may not want to pursue the cannabis business, the broader food / crop growing business could be interesting (or at least opportunistic.)

The deal doesn’t close until the first half of 2022, so, there is time for distributors and reps / agents to learn more (and Signify to determine what it wants to do with the line.)

Fluence goes to show that there can be many paths to market.

Atkore Buys Itself Two Presents

Atkore announced two acquisitions this week. And while both are gifts, the sense is these are the type that would fit into stockings hanging from the mantel in Harvey, IL rather than under someone’s Christmas tree … in other words, small acquisitions.

The first is Sasco Tubes & Roll Forming Inc.. Sasco is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with approximately 50 employees. According to Mark Lamps, president of Atkore’s Safety & Infrastructure business “Sasco has developed an extensive range of sizes, gauges and multiple combinations of strut channels and fittings. This acquisition complements Atkore’s existing product portfolio and enables us to improve the customer experience by providing a broader range of solutions.”

According to Dun & Bradstreet, when the company had 40 employees, sales were about $8 million USD.

And the second is Four Star Industries, a “manufacturer and distributor of high density polyethylene HDPE conduit for telecommunication and electrical energy infrastructure products and systems.”

Product applications include cable television, Electrical for Department of Transportation projects, Telecom and Power Utilities.

Four Star is a small company with less than 30 employees, in an asset purchase, however, it is an infrastructure play for Atkore and they hope for growth (or needed the capacity) to capitalize upon the Infrastructure Bill. This acquisition will support Atkore’s Electrical business.

Combined, the two acquisitions may total $50 million … so we’ll call them stocking stuffers that could grow into presents.

Hunter Fan Changes Parent

Another deal, albeit residential in nature, is that Hunter Fan was sold from one private equity firm to another.

Of interest is that the selling price was $845 million!

Those in the residential lighting space will recognize Hunter. The article appeared on US LightingTrends.

With the year almost done, will there be any fireworks by New Year’s Day or will company’s keep their powder dry and wait till next year.

It has been a busy December with:

• Sonepar, Motion Industries and OTC making three deals
• Southwire making two acquisitions
• 6 acquisitions announced / closed in late November / early December

Time for a break!!

Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the long weekend with family and friends.