Calhoun-based Mohawk Industries announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase laminate flooring manufacturer Pergo for $150 million in cash.
Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lorberbaum said the acquisition “complements our specialty distribution network with Pergo’s strength in the U.S. (do-it-yourself) channel.”
He also said the deal would help its Unilin laminate flooring unit.
Pergo had sales of about $320 million in 2011 in the U.S. and Europe.
In August, Mohawk announced 2012 second-quarter net earnings of $73 million with net sales for the quarter of $1.5 billion.
Kathryn Thompson, director of research for Thompson Research Group in Nashville, an equity research firm, said of Pergo, “I think this is a company people have been looking at for quite some time.”
She said Mohawk is “incredibly disciplined” in making acquisitions and the company got “probably a pretty good deal.”
Stock markets were closed Monday and will be again Tuesday as the Northeast tries to cope with the impact of Hurricane Sandy, so there was no immediate market reaction to the announcement. Thompson said she expected the reaction to be favorable.
Mohawk, a leading supplier of flooring to residential and commercial markets, said it expects the deal to close not later than the first quarter of 2013. Its brands include Mohawk, Karastan, Lees, Bigelow and Durkan.
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