CINCINNATI - Formica Corp., a manufacturer of surfacing products, announced Tuesday that it is being acquired by Fletcher Building Ltd., a New Zealand-based material and construction company, for $700 million.
The transaction is expected to be completed in early July 2007.
Fletcher Building, which has annual revenues of $4 billion, operates five units: Laminates & Panels (principally involving Laminex, which currently owns the rights to and sells under the Formica brand in Australia and New Zealand), Building Products, Steel, Infrastructure and Distribution.
The acquisition of Formica also includes additional deferred payments of up to $50 million from private equity investors Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC.
Formica will become a business unit within the Fletcher Building Laminates & Panels division. Frank Riddick will remain as President and Chief Executive Officer of Formica and the management team will remain with the company. Formica will keep the South America operations and certain real estate in California.
Formica has more than 3,800 employees in 14 manufacturing and 33 distribution facilities in Asia, Europe and North America.