Manitowoc Company seeks to buy British restaurant equipment manufacturer
The Manitowoc Company recently confirmed that it has approached Enodis plc, a British manufacturer of restaurant equipment, about purchasing the company. Manitowoc, best known for its crane and ship-building divisions, also has a restaurant equipment division. In a statement, Manitowoc confirmed the offer, but said it "does not intent to make further comment on the status of the discussions." A previous offer from Manitowoc to buy Enodis was rejected by the British firm in 2006.
Modine to sell subsidiary
Modine Manufacturing Co.’s restructuring will continue with a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets of its Thermacore Inc. subsidiary, based in Lancaster, Pa. The company will be sold a new firm company formed by Thermacore’s management team. The transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter of the company’s 2009 fiscal year. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "The Thermacore sale marks another step in our commitment to fine-tune our product and business portfolio," said Tom Cromwell, managing director of Modine’s Commercial Products Group. "As part of our ongoing evaluation process and our strategic focus on our core vehicular, HVAC and fuel cell markets, we recognized that the Thermacore business would be better positioned as a standalone company, allowing its management team to focus in the electronics cooling market." Racine-based Modine had acquired Thermacore in 2001 to add end-market diversification to its product line. On May 1, 2007, Modine announced its intention to evaluate its strategic alternatives for the electronics cooling business. Thermacore, which had fiscal 2007 revenues of $32 million, designs, develops and manufactures electronics cooling products for the military, aerospace, medical, server and telecommunications markets. Thermacore has 179 employees and holds 90 active patents. The new company, to be operated under the Thermacore name from locations in Lancaster and Ashington, United Kingdom, is to be owned by management, an employee stock ownership plan and outside investors. Jerome Toth, spokesman for the new company, indicated that the Thermacore business would continue to focus on being a leading global supplier of high performance thermal management solutions. Modine also announced last week it will close its plants in Camdenton, Mo.; Pemberville, Ohio; Logansport, Ind.; and Tubingen, Germany.
Orion hires attorneys to defend against class action lawsuit
Plymouth-based Orion Energy Systems Inc. has retained the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as its defense counsel in purported securities class action lawsuits filed against the company. The lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuits allege, among other things, that Orion, certain of its officers and members of its board of directors made misstatements and failed to disclose material information in the registration statement and prospectus for Orion’s recently completed initial public offering. The named defendants include Orion chief executive officer Neal Verfuerth. Orion announced today that it believes it has "substantial legal and factual defenses in this action, which it intends to pursue vigorously." Orion’s common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "OESX." The company raised more than $78 million with its initial public offering on Dec. 19. Klafter & Olsen LLP, a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York has filed a securities class action complaint against Orion on behalf of investors who purchased Orion’s common stock between Dec. 18, 2007, through Feb. 6, 2008. Investors who purchased Orion’s stock in that time frame have until today to file a motion to be appointed as a lead plaintiff in the class action suit. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Securities Act of 1933 by publicly disseminating materially false and misleading information in the registration statement and prospectus issued in connection with the Orion’s IPO. The suit alleges that Verfuerth and his family sold 600,000 shares for proceeds of approximately $7 million. The suit claims Orion and its officers and directors made materially false and misleading statements and/or omitted material information in the IPO. The suit claims Orion did not disclose that it was having to rapidly shift its focus from its core product of HIF lighting systems to its new products that were untested in the marketplace.
