American Standard sells Kitchen & Bath business Home Depot sells HD Supply GreenMech elects new board of directors Lochinvar awards top VIP contractor Taco receives award from Department of Commerce PHCC GLAA deemed successful event

American Standard sells Kitchen & Bath business

Piscataway, N.J. -- American Standard Companies Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to sell the company’s worldwide Bath and Kitchen products business to funds advised by Bain Capital Partners, LLC, a leading global private investment firm, for $1.755 billion in cash.

Upon completion of the sale, Bain Capital will acquire all of American Standard’s Bath and Kitchen business with 2006 annual sales of $2.4 billion, 26,000 employees and 54 production facilities in 23 countries worldwide. The business manufactures and markets industry-leading products under brand names such as American Standard, Ideal Standard, Armitage Shanks, Porcher, Jado, Ceramica Dolomite and Vidima.

“This is a major milestone in our plan to separate American Standard into three focused, better understood companies,” said Fred Poses, American Standard chairman and CEO. “We believe that Bain Capital’s all-cash offer provides excellent value for our shareowners. Bath and Kitchen is a global market leader, with size, global reach and organizational talent. It has a rich history and a great future for its customers, employees and new owners.”

“This is a market-leading global company with a wonderful heritage, a strong portfolio of brands, deep customer relationships and an experienced management team,” said Steve Barnes, a managing director at Bain Capital based in Boston. “We look forward to supporting the management team and dedicated employees in realizing the company’s full potential through continued operational improvements, further enhancing and leveraging its strong family of brands, and accelerating growth,” added Walid Sarkis, a London-based managing director at Bain Capital.

American Standard Companies is completing plans to spin off WABCO. Regular trading of WABCO’s common stock (WBC) was set to begin Aug. 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. It is currently traded

on a “when issued” basis.

TOP

Home Depot sells HD Supply

It has been confirmed that Home Depot has sold its HD Supply division to a major private equity consortium. The three firms making up the consortium are Bain Capital, Carlyle Group, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice. They bid $10.3 billion and will each take an equal stake in HD Supply. It is estimated that Home Depot had spent approximately $8.5 billion for the companies it had acquired to make up the division -- including $4 billion for the Hughes Supply acquisition in 2006.

Our sources indicate that another group of private equity firms had also bid on HD Supply. This group was comprised of Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and CCMP Capital Advisors LLC.

The Bain/Carlyle/CD&R winning bid is of particular interest since the latter’s full partner, Charlie Banks, was formerly CEO of Ferguson Inc. and parent company Wolseley Corp. The major part of Banks’ career was spent in the PHCP industry’s distribution sector with Ferguson, a leading revenue and profit generator among U.S.-based PHCP multi-branch wholesalers. It will be especially interesting to see if Banks plays a pivotal role in the operations of the new acquisition.

Our Home Depot contact indicated that former CEO Robert Nardelli, who had built HD Supply into a $12-billion annual revenue giant, was committed to further expansion of this approach, to which a growing number of directors objected. Their concern was that the expansion of HD Supply would dilute the company’s massive cash flow and steer its direction away from the retail home maintenance business. HD Supply had grown to 13% of Home Depot’s total revenues in 2006, but only 8% of its operating profit. It was reported that Nardellli had planned to expand HD Supply to reach 20% of the retailer’s total sales.

TOP

GreenMech elects new board of directors 

Neenah, Wis. -- The Green Mechanical Council has elected a new board of directors to serve a one-year term. The new executive board members are:

• Chairman -- Jerry Weiss. Jerry is the executive director of hvac Excellence, chairman of the board of Educational Standards Corporation, member of the board of directors of the Carbon Monoxide Safety Association, founder and director of the ESCO Group, publisher ESCO Press, board member of ESCO Press International of Canada, member of the board of directors of the AC&R Safety Coalition.
• Vice Chairman -- Steven H. Allen. Steve is the administrator of hvacr Education and Recruitment for the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada (ua). He is the developer of the us star Testing and Certification program, and the ua Interactive On-line Curriculum (a Web-based file sharing system for ua instructors).
• Treasurer -- Tom Crandell. Tom is the director corporate & professional development Center (cpd) at Ferris State University. Prior to his promotion to cpd director, he was program director at cpd for seven years. Crandell is also a former program director of credit offering programs and a faculty member (associate professor) from the College of Technology, Manufacturing Engineering Department, Ferris State University.
• Secretary -- Walter Jann. Walter began his career at Legend Valve in 1996 and was named executive vice president of Legend Valve in 2000. He is responsible for directing Legend Valve’s strategies for operations, technology, and logistics management. Prior to his current position, Walter served as director of operations for Legend.
• Director -- Dan Chiles. Dan is vice president of marketing, for Watts Radiant. Watts Radiant is a manufacturing and marketing company that last year supplied radiant heating components to over 70,000 radiant heating projects in North America. 
• Director -- Scott Berger. Scott runs his family-owned business, Arista in business since 1949. Arista is a leading mechanical service contractor serving the New York Tri-State area. In addition, Berger serves on multiple national committees for The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), The Mechanical Service Contractors of America (MSCA) and is a trustee for The Mechanical Contracting Education and Research Foundation (MCERF).
• Director -- Michael Senter. Michael is the CEO of ABCO Refrigeration Supply Corporation, one of the largest independent distributors of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, parts and supplies in the United States.

TOP

Lochinvar awards top VIP contractor

Lebanon, Tenn. -- Lochinvar Corp. awarded seven participants in its VIP Contractor Program with the grand prize -- an all-expenses-paid trip to Tennessee for The Nashville Experience. From June 7th through June 9th, Lochinvar treated the winners and their guests to top-notch treatment and exciting entertainment to show its gratitude for the contractors’ outstanding sales of the knight Heating Boiler.

The visitors’ experiences included a NASCAR Busch Series race at the Nashville Super Speedway, fine southern dining, and their choice of attending the Country Music Association Festival, a dinner cruise on the Opryland Hotel’s General Jackson Showboat or an evening at the world famous Grand Ole Opry. The winners were also escorted to Lochinvar’s world headquarters where they toured the plant that manufactures the knight heating boiler and other industry-leading products. Vice president of sales, Mike Lahti; product program manager, Mike Juhnke; and marketing manager, Stirling Boston greeted these distinguished guests upon their arrival and served as their hosts during the course of their stay.

The winners of The Nashville Experience included the following VIP Contractors:

• Joe DiBacco, Jr. of Comfort Zone Heating & Cooling in North Billerica, Mass.
• Rick Hackett of Hackett Brothers Inc. in Lynn, Mass.
• Phil Forner of Allendale Heating Company Inc. in Allendale, Mich.
• Gregory McCall of Greg’s Service Heating & Cooling in Maryville, Ill.
• Brian Smith of Outback Montana Plumbing & Heating, in Kalispell, Mont.   
• Karl Orme of KDO Plumbing & Mechanical, Inc. in Provo, Utah
• John Conway of Arrowhead, Inc. in Casper, Wyo.

Lochinvar invites all premier contractors who install knight Heating Boilers to enroll in the VIP Contractor Program. In addition to being listed on Lochinvar’s online Contractor Locator, all VIP Contractors also receive exceptional sales support and incentives. Lochinvar supports their sales efforts with advertising, direct mail, brochures, and counter cards.

As part of the program, Lochinvar also hosted a weekly giveaway for participants from fall 2006 through spring 2007. With each registered purchase of a fully modulating and condensing knight heating boiler, participating contractors were entered to win a Hewlett Packard Pocket PC pre-loaded with the knight’s smart system operating system software already preloaded.

The following VIP Contractors were the final winners in the Pocket PC giveaway:

• Joe DiBacco, Jr. of Comfort Zone Heating & Cooling in North Billerica, Mass.
• Karl D. Orme of KDO Plumbing & Mechanical Inc. in Provo, Utah
• Dustin Kelley of Kelley Plumbing & Heating Services, Inc. in Sandy, Utah
• Ray Gavlak of Andersons Heating & Air Conditioning in Missoula, Mont.
• Dan Hatch of Universal Plumbing & Heating in Gunnison, Colo.

For more info, www.lochinvar.com.

TOP

Taco receives award from Department of Commerce

Cranston, R.I. -- Taco Inc. is the recipient of an export achievement award given by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Service. The award was presented to Taco president and CEO John Hazen White, Jr. during Bryant University’s World Trade Day conference and Expo in May.

Presenting the award to Taco was James Cox, northeast regional director for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Taco was cited for consistent growth in exports and for “recent accomplishments in the global marketplace.” 

The company was also lauded for its work with Bryant University students and faculty on export development and assistance. Taco maintains an active association with Bryant’s John H. Chafee Center for International Business.

Taco has long been active in overseas markets. The company exports to Canada and Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. It is currently very active bidding on and supplying products for use in large construction projects in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf sheikhdoms.

TOP

PHCC GLAA deemed successful event

Long Beach, Calif. -- “The best PHCC show in the past five years,” one exhibitor said referring to the PHCC glaa just after show closed. With last year’s attendance numbers for the one-day event overtaken by noon, exhibitors were “thrilled” with the new Long Beach location and the quality of customers.

PHCC GLAA decided to return to Long Beach for the 2008 Industry Trade Show. The fantastic number of other fun things to do has made the trade show a family event. The world famous Aquarium is just across the street, as well a large number of shops and movie theaters within a five minute walk from the center. The hotel facility is connected to the convention center, and is a full resort- rated operation.

The first annual “Truck Show Contest” was a huge success. More than 500 ballots were cast for the winning work truck. Mike Diamond Plumbing was the winning entry, and PHCC congratulates them for their participation.

Not to be forgotten, the annual PHCC apprenticeship contest was held with seven of the best students in California working all day long to plumb a bathroom from the groundwork up to final finish. The three judges went over every solder joint, as well as checking all no-hub connections. In the end, an amazing finish showed just a few points separating the top two contestants. The winner was Benjamin Murcia from Alameda/Contra Costa.

If you missed the best show in the past five years, you will have to wait until June 2008 to see it again. Make room on you calendar for it next year.

TOP