Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc., a global and diversified consumer products company, has completed the acquisition of Armored AutoGroup Parent Inc. (Armored AutoGroup) from Avista Capital Partners for $1.4 billion in cash and assumed debt. A definitive merger agreement was announced on April 28.
Armored AutoGroup is a consumer products company consisting primarily of the Armor All and STP brands, two of the most recognizable brands in the automotive aftermarket appearance products and performance chemicals/additives categories, and the leading A/C PRO brand in the DIY automotive air conditioner recharge category.
“We are pleased to complete this exciting and accretive acquisition, which adds market-leading, iconic brands in attractive auto care retail categories to Spectrum Brands’ diverse portfolio of strong consumer brands,” said Andreas Rouvé, CEO of Spectrum Brands Holdings. “This highly profitable business is expected to enhance our margins and free cash flow profile, further improve our customer mix and shelf space in complementary channels, offer substantial international growth potential by leveraging our existing global infrastructure, and enhance our overall scale and product diversification with a new, large and growing do-it-yourself auto care aftermarket category.”
Rouvé added, “We look forward to working with the employees of Armored AutoGroup to achieve a smooth integration and accelerate the growth of the Armor All, STP and A/C PRO brands here and abroad.”
David Maura, chairman of the board of Spectrum Brands, said, “Our acquisition of Armored AutoGroup is a perfect fit with our strategy to buy and build high brand equity businesses, with strong margin structures, low capital spending requirements, and significant free cash flow generation. We welcome the Armored AutoGroup employees to the Spectrum Brands family and look forward to driving this outstanding business to even greater levels of performance and delivering outstanding quality, innovation and service to our customers. We also remain committed to maintaining a strong balance sheet and fully intend to deploy our growing free cash flow stream to rapidly delever our balance sheet as we have in the past.”
Armored AutoGroup will be a separate reporting segment within Spectrum Brands, known as Global Auto Care (GAC), reporting to Rouvé.
