About the companies:
Newell Rubbermaid
Base: Atlanta
Employees: 17,000 worldwide (900 in metro Atlanta)
Products include: Rubbermaid, Paper Mate, Calphalon, Krazy Glue, Sharpie, Goody
Jarden Corp.
Base: Boca Raton, Fla.
Employees: 35,000 worldwide
Best-known products: Yankee Candle, Mr. Coffee, Grill Master, Coleman, Crock Pot, Oster, Sunbeam, First Alert, Ball jars
Mark it down with a Sharpie — Newell Rubbermaid is more than doubling in size with the $13.2 billion acquisition of a Florida company with a similar grab-bag of consumer products.
Atlanta-based Newell, whose name will change to Newell Brands as part of the deal, announced Monday it will buy Jarden Corp., based in Boca Raton, Fla.
Newell, whose roster of brands already includes a long list led by Sharpie markers, Rubbermaid containers, Elmer’s glue and Calphalon kitchenware, will add 120 or so more. Jarden brands range from Mr. Coffee, Yankee Candle and Bicycle playing cards to Coleman camping gear and Rawlings baseballs.
Both companies specialize in managing far flung manufacturing operations and retailing deals for rosters of brands stitched together through years of acquisitions.
The Jarden buy is Newell’s biggest yet, by far. Newell shares fell almost 7 percent Monday. Jarden’s gained 2.7 percent.
The combined company will have revenue of about $16 billion, moving Newell up the ladder of Fortune 500 companies. Its breadth of brands will rival that of consumer product giants such as Procter & Gamble.
The effect on Newell’s 900-person headquarters in Sandy Springs is yet unclear. The deal, expected to close next spring, comes as Newell prepares to move from its current home office to another, smaller building in north Fulton County city. Spokeswoman Nicole Quinlan said those plans have not changed.
She said each company will continue to run independently until the deal closes and that Newell does not expect any major changes in 2016.
“After the transaction closes, we will build detailed integration plans appropriate to the opportunity,” Quinlan said. “Many of the synergies we expect are non-people related.”
S&P Capital IQ analyst Keith Snyder applauded the deal, saying it gets Newell into new fast-growing consumer categories, such as candles and outdoor equipment. But he said an acquisition of this number of products also raises questions.
“How are they going to manage this many brands?” he said. “Are they going to be able to create economies of scale?”
Newell Rubbermaid CEO Michael Polk, who will be CEO of Newell Brands, said on CNBC Monday that there are synergies in the companies’ portfolios. For instance, he wants to grow the graduation business by pairing Jarden’s Jostens rings with Newell’s Parker and Waterman fine writing pens.
“There are cross opportunities really that you don’t intuitively think about until you unpack this,” Polk said.
Martin Franklin, who founded Jarden and stands to make about $130 million on the deal, said in interviews that Jarden is being acquired because its market cap is smaller than Newell’s, even though it product lineup and revenue outsizes its acquirer. Franklin will join Newell’s board.
Jarden shareholders will receive $21 in cash and 0.862 of a share in Newell Rubbermaid stock at closing for each share of Jarden stock, Newell Rubbermaid said. Newell Rubbermaid shareholders will own approximately 55 percent of the company after the transaction is complete.
Polk said both companies have momentum and made the deal from a position of strength.
As for Newell’s stock drop Monday, he said, “People are trying to understand the strategic rationale for the deal.”
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