Newell Brands to put Lenox up for sale

Oct. 6, 2016 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

Bill Burke, chief operating officer at Newell Rubbermaid (left), said at the East Longmeadow Lenox/American Saw 100th anniversary celebration in 2015, “We’re not only celebrating this first 100 years; we’re celebrating what will be the next 100 years.”
Reminder Publications file photo

HOBOKEN, NJ – Newell Brands, Inc. has announced that among its companies, it will be selling the Lenox facility in East Longmeadow, among other holdings.

In a press release dated Oct. 4, the company noted the sale is part of a “comprehensive strategic review of its business since the completion of the Newell Rubbermaid and Jarden combination.”

Newell Brands include a long list of familiar consumer product brands including, Paper Mate, Sharpie, Dymo, EXPO, Parker, Elmer’s, Coleman, Jostens, Marmot, Rawlings, Oster, Sunbeam, FoodSaver, Mr. Coffee, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Graco, Baby Jogger, NUK, Calphalon, Rubbermaid, Contigo, First Alert, Waddington and Yankee Candle.

According to the release, “about 10 percent of the portfolio and include the vast majority of the Tools Segment, the Winter Sports businesses within the Outdoor Solutions Segment, the Heaters, Humidifiers, and Fans businesses within the Consumer Solutions Segment, and the Consumer Storage Container business within the Home Solutions Segment” is up for sale.

Tom Sanford, vice president Global Communications, confirmed to Reminder Publications the Lenox, Hilmor and Irwin tools fall within the Tools Segment and are up for sale.

The sale process has begun and the company hopes to complete the divestiture of the assets held for sale within the first half of 2017.

Last year, Lenox/American Saw celebrated 100 years of being in business. At the time, Bill Burke, COO at Newell Brands said, “We’re not only celebrating this first 100 years; we’re celebrating what will be the next 100 years.”

In 2002 American Saw and Manufacturing was sold to Newell Rubbermaid for $450 million.

“If you think about it, back then there was a lot of concern with this $6 billion company coming in and destroying what was special here. I was fortunate to come in as the first president and my biggest mission was not to mess things up here and keep what was special and build on it and with the power of Newell Rubbermaid investments to make it bigger and more global, ” Burke said last year.

Mark Tarchetti, Newell Brands president, said in the release, “The combination of Newell Rubbermaid and Jarden has created a unique platform for transformative value creation and the actions we are taking to reshape the company will unlock this opportunity, bringing greater investment and growth to our highest potential categories like Writing, Home Fragrance, Baby, Food Storage & Preparation, Appliances & Cookware, and Outdoor & Recreation. The choices we are making will strengthen the underlying growth and performance of our most strategic businesses and over time enable us to scale our core categories through external development.”



Share this: