BANKRUPTCY: Broan - Nutone - Best - Zephyr
Submitted by advisor on Tue, 09/22/2009 - 4:56pm.
TWICE reports that Broan - Nutone - Best - Zephyr parent Nortek is "soliciting votes from debt holders to approve a financial restructuring that would swap most of the company's debt for equity." Balloting ends October 16. Sounds like a friendly bankruptcy. (see story)
TWICE also got into the nuts and bolts of the bankruptcy in an earlier story. The recession obviously swamped the projections that made all of Nortek's recent moves posssible including:
- taking the business private in 2003
- being acquired by management and private equity firm Thomas H Lee Partners in 2004
- continual acquisitions of companies such as Zephyr
Sales are no match for its debt.
As for the bigger story of Private Equity once more "screwing the pooch" in the appliance industry, where are we? The examples of Private Equity gone wrong are Nortek, DCS, BBQ's Galore, and possibly Viking.
Uline is unknown. Maytag chose to kill Whirlpool. Have we missed any?
Hmmmmmmmm ...
I have to admit that I long questioned the splitting of Broad & Nutone ... very much reminiscent of Plymouth/Dodge and you see where that go them !!!
It is curious that the article conspicuously did not mention the "hood" divisions in their press release ...
I agree about the screwing of DCS ... remember it well !!!
... and mismanagement of the Viking product line, as well as the potential for some movement with LG ...
... but I wonder about the Maytag/Whirlpool thingy ... Ripplewood was the original suitor until Whirlpool came along !!!
I think this might be just another brick in the wall of the oligarchy of "only the strong survive" companies strong enough to survive the storm by being able to live on the profits from volume rather than efficiency & effectiveness that got them there !!!