Welbilt Completes Crem International Acquisition
19 April 2018 - 11:45PM
Business Wire
- Provides entry into hot beverage
market via professional coffee machines, one of the fastest growing
categories within the global beverage market
- Adds highly complementary product
portfolio enhancing Welbilt’s position as full-line supplier with
attractive cross-selling opportunities
- Supports Welbilt’s strategy to
further drive growth outside the U.S., while also strengthening
U.S. offering
- Expected to be accretive to earnings
beginning later in 2018 and beyond
Welbilt, Inc. (NYSE:WBT), a leading global provider of
commercial foodservice equipment, today announced that it has
completed the previously-announced acquisition of Avaj
International Holding AB (“Crem® International” or “Crem”) for
total consideration of approximately SEK 1,800 million, or
approximately $224 million USD equivalent.
Crem International is a global leading manufacturer of
professional coffee machines with more than 50 years of experience
in the market and sales in more than 80 countries. Crem is
headquartered in Solna, Sweden, and has three manufacturing sites
in Åmotfors, Sweden, Gandia, Spain, and Shanghai, China. These
plants are supported by three R&D centers and six sales
offices. Crem develops, manufactures and markets coffee machines
under three brands: Coffee Queen®, Expobar® and Spengler for use in
offices, restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, catering and
convenience stores. Crem offers the broadest range of professional
coffee machines, including manual and automatic espresso and filter
coffee machines as well as instant, liquid, freestanding and other
machines.
In 2017, Crem International generated sales of approximately SEK
767 million, or approximately $90 million USD equivalent. The
acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings beginning later
in 2018 and beyond, with run-rate synergies expected to grow to
approximately $10 million by 2020.
“With the acquisition of Crem International now completed, we
have taken the first step in realizing our ambition to complement
our organic growth strategy with select bolt-on acquisitions,”
stated Hubertus Muehlhaeuser, Welbilt’s President and CEO. “The
acquisition of Crem is highly strategic on multiple fronts:
- It expands our full-line of commercial
foodservice equipment coverage by adding the fast-growing hot
coffee category to our portfolio;
- It gives Welbilt the broadest portfolio
of hot and cold beverage equipment of any company in the
market;
- Crem’s strength in Europe and Asia
supports our strategic objective of expanding our presence in these
two important regions;
- We foresee significant cross-selling
opportunities between Crem’s and Welbilt’s respective customer
bases in those regions; and
- We see further opportunity to bring
Crem to Welbilt’s customer base in the U.S. and include it as a
core offering in our FitKitchen® system solutions.”
“We welcome Crem International’s employees into the Welbilt
family. We see substantial opportunities going forward in creating
a joint team supported by shared company values and a spirit of
innovation,” concluded Muehlhaeuser.
Sebastian Lindstroem, CEO of Crem International noted, “We at
Crem International are delighted to join forces with Welbilt.
Within Welbilt’s strong family of brands and products, we will be
able to further expand the reach of our highly innovative and
competitive product portfolio of professional coffee machines
through improved market access while our current customers will
benefit from Welbilt’s expertise in new product development and
manufacturing process improvement.”
About Welbilt, Inc.
Welbilt, Inc. provides the world’s top chefs, premier chain
operators and growing independents with industry-leading equipment
and solutions. Our innovative products and solutions are powered by
our deep knowledge, operator insights, and culinary expertise. We
offer fully-integrated kitchen systems and our products are backed
by KitchenCare® aftermarket parts and service. Headquartered in the
Tampa Bay region of Florida and operating 17 manufacturing
facilities throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, the company
sells through a global network of over 3,500 distributors and
dealers in over 100 countries. We have approximately 5,400
employees and generated sales of $1.45 billion in 2017. Our
portfolio of award-winning brands includes Cleveland™, Convotherm®,
Delfield®, FitKitchen®, Frymaster®, Garland®, Kolpak®, Lincoln™,
Manitowoc® Ice, Merco®, Merrychef® and Multiplex®. For more
information, visit www.welbilt.com.
Forward-looking
Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements contained in
this press release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements and include, for example, statements
relating to our anticipated acquisition of Crem, including the
timing of closing the transaction and the anticipated benefits
expected to be realized by us as a result of the acquisition.
Certain of these forward-looking statements can be identified by
the use of words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,”
“estimates,” “targets,” “expects,” “could,” “will,” “may,” “plans,”
“projects,” “assumes,” “should” or other similar expressions. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially from
future results expressed or implied in these forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statement included in this release
are based on our current beliefs and expectations and speak only as
of the date of this release. These statements are not guarantees or
indicative of future performance. Important assumptions and other
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, risks related to the acquisition of Crem
International, including the failure to obtain applicable
regulatory approvals and close the transaction in a timely manner
or at all, the results of Crem International’s operations prior to
the closing of the acquisition, our ability to realize the benefits
of the acquisition in a manner consistent with our expectations and
general integration risks, world economic factors and the ongoing
economic and political uncertainty; realization of anticipated
earnings enhancements, cost savings, strategic options and other
synergies and the anticipated timing to realize those enhancements,
savings, synergies, and options; availability of raw materials and
changes in raw material prices, commodity prices and hedges in
place; the ability to generate cash and manage working capital
consistent with our stated goals; changes in the interest rate
environment and currency fluctuations; the successful development
and market acceptance of innovative new products; actions by
competitors including competitive pricing; consumer and customer
demand for products; laws and regulations, including changes in
laws and regulations and their enforcement around the world; and
those additional risks, uncertainties and factors described in more
detail under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, and in our other
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We do
not intend, and, except as required by law, we undertake no
obligation, to update any of our forward-looking statements after
the date of this release to reflect any future events or
circumstances. Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking
statements.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180419005810/en/
Welbilt, Inc.Rich Sheffer, +1-727-853-3079Vice President
Investor Relations, Risk Management and TreasurerRichard.sheffer@welbilt.com
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