Actuant to sell division

Menomonee Falls-based Actuant Corp. announced that its board of directors has authorized a plan to sell the company’s Electrical segment.
 

The Electrical segment primarily serves the retail do-it-yourself, marine, industrial OEM and wholesale electrical markets with a variety of products under the Gardner Bender, Marinco, Mastervolt, Acme and Turner Electric brand names. In 2012, it had sales of approximately $325 million. The segment employs approximately 1,000 and operates from six locations across the globe with its headquarters in Menomonee Falls.

“The sale of Electrical allows Actuant to streamline our strategy and refocus on the remaining businesses in a way that better positions the Company to take advantage of our core competencies, current business model and global growth trends,” said Robert Arzbaecher, chairman and chief executive officer of Actuant. “We’ve outlined four areas of emphasis for growth, through both organic and acquisition strategies, which include energy, infrastructure, farm productivity and natural resources and sustainability. Actuant’s three remaining segments are well-positioned to build on these secular growth trends, further expand into emerging markets and deliver superior long-term returns. The Electrical segment has a variety of premium brands and is a valuable asset. We believe the sale of the segment would provide a buyer the opportunity to fully leverage the market leading positions and depth and breadth of the segment’s diverse electrical products and technologies. We will continue to operate the business, including executing its existing plans to grow revenues and profitability, during the divestiture process.”

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Actuant intends to redeploy the proceeds from the sale to fund acquisitions and to return capital to shareholders in the form of common stock share repurchases. The company expects to complete the sale during fiscal 2014.

In conjunction with the reclassification of the Electrical segment to discontinued operations, Actuant announced it expects to record a non-cash, after-tax charge of approximately $150 million from the write-down of the net assets held for sale to their net realizable value in the third quarter. Actuant has retained Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Company Inc. to advise on the process.

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