Lifetime Brands and Filament Brands have reached an agreement whereby the former will acquire the latter in a deal that brings together two major housewares suppliers with a broad assortment of brands in numerous product categories.
Based on the closing price of Lifetime’s common stock on December 21, 2017, the transaction is valued at $313 million and is expected to close in the first half of 2018. Lifetime will continue to be headquartered in Garden City, NY, and the company will maintain a significant presence in Seattle.
Upon completion of the agreement, Filament CEO Rob Kay will become CEO of Lifetime. Jeffrey Siegel, current chairman and CEO of Lifetime, will hold the title of executive chairman. Daniel Siegel will remain Lifetime president and Ronald Shiftan will remain vice chairman of the board.
In conjunction with the closing of the transaction, Kay and two representatives of Filament owners Centre Partners— Bruce Pollack and Michael Schnabel— will join the company’s board, which will expand to 13 directors. In addition, shareholders of Filament, led by Centre Partners, will own 27% of Lifetime when the deal is closed, company officials said.
“This transaction brings together two highly complementary companies and positions Lifetime with the scale, brands and capabilities to compete and win in today’s dynamic global environment,” said Jeffrey Siegel. “With its attractive positions in non-traditional, high-growth channels, Filament will help extend Lifetime’s reach into important new segments and create new opportunities for our business.”
Kay added, “Today’s announcement is a testament to our relentless customer focus and to the hard work of our talented creative and professional teams. Together with Lifetime, with its robust sales, e-commerce, sourcing and IT infrastructure, we’ll be able to bring even more great ideas to market and drive significant value creation over the long-term.”
Combining the two kitchenware suppliers will bring together a host of well-known brands in a range of categories including cookware, bakeware, gadgets & kitchen tools and tabletop. They include Farberware, KitchenAid, Mikasa, Rabbit, Taylor and Chef’n.