Marmon, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.34%) (BRK.B -0.01%), today announced it will acquire the beverage dispense and merchandising divisions of IMI plc, a U.K-based engineering firm, for $1.1 billion. After regulatory approval, it is expected the deal will be closed in the early part of next year.
In March, IMI disclosed that it had begun exploring divestiture opportunities for its merchandising business (which creates various merchandising and marketing solutions for companies) and it later received an offer from Marmon for its entire retail dispense business, which includes both the dispense and merchandising operations. IMI's beverage dispense unit supplies "innovative beverage cooling and dispense solutions to brand owners and retailers around the world."
The retail dispense business in total has approximately 3,100 employees that will transfer with the acquisition by Marmon. Last year it had revenues of approximately $675 million and operating profit of approximately $100 million.
Marmon, which is an industrial subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, has approximately 160 manufacturing and servicing business that are independent from one another. It employs 17,000 people had revenues exceeding $7 billion last year.
Marmon CEO Frank Ptak said in a statement: "The IMI Beverage Dispense and Merchandising businesses will become an integral part of the Marmon Retail Technologies company, one of three Marmon companies that together comprise approximately 160 independent manufacturing and service businesses worldwide."
In addition, the president of Marmon Retail Technologies, John Goody, was quoted as saying: "These strong businesses are an excellent strategic fit with our existing operations in the food service and retail industries as well as with our decentralized business model."
