In This Section:
Ali Acquires Beverage-Air
Hupfer Industries Opens U.S. Office
Last Call For Fame, Fortune!
Restaurants Test 'Fry Power' To Save Electricity
Retrofits Extend Dry Town's Water Supply
Manitowoc Wins One-Bid Enodis Auction
This issue's Economic Report Sponsor: Manitowoc Foodservice Group
Regulatory ReportSponsor: Enodis
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Ali Acquires Beverage-Air
Ali S.p.A., Milan, Italy, has acquired refrigerator manufacturer Beverage-Air from Carrier Commercial Refrigeration. The acquisition includes all of the Beverage-Air operations in Brookville, Pa., and its foodservice operations and headquarters in Spartanburg, S.C.
The Ali Group operates globally via 50 brands and 34 manufacturing facilities in 14 countries. Ali Group North America is based in Winston-Salem, N.C.
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Hupfer Industries Opens U.S. Office
German foodservice equipment manufacturer Hupfer Industries has opened for business in the United States. The Coesfeld, Germany, supplier in June opened company offices, a showroom and warehouse facilities in Mooresville, N.C.
The new company is a joint venture partnership between Hupfer and Keith Edgington, who will assume the position of president and COO. Edgington will focus on introducing Hupfer products to the North American market and on organizational development.
Hupfer's commercial foodservice equipment division makes shelving, preparation, hot and cold food holding and serving equipment.
Last Call For Fame, Fortune!
Attention, suppliers! As we reported in our last FER Fortnightly, our printed-paper sister publication, Foodservice Equipment Reports, has announced its 11th Annual Smallwares and Tabletop Competition is coming up soon.
If you've got an innovative new product that debuted no earlier than May 2007, you might want to act quickly to get it entered. Deadline has been extended just a few days to July 2—which is tomorrow.
On the smallwares side, eligible items would include back-of-house, non-electric tools, implements, vessels, etc., usually hand-held. And for tabletop, anything that might appear on a well-dressed table or buffet is a good candidate. You can find application forms online at www.fermag.com, or request one by email from Janice Cha at jcha@fermag.com.
Restaurants Test 'Fry Power' To Save Electricity
Worried about grease thieves? A company in Boylston, Mass., wants you to use old frying oil to power up your lights instead of putting it out back where thieves can get at it.
The company has a prototype bio-fuel generator that runs on vegetable oil. Company president James Peret, a mechanical engineer, has been using a bio-diesel car for some time, and wondered why a generator, like gas-powered home units people use when their power goes out, couldn't run on bio-fuel as well.
Peret said the prototype system automatically processes used oil and produces 5 kW of power seamlessly. All you have to do is pour used frying oil into the unit's tank.
Beta testing starts this fall, and the company hopes to roll out production units next year. For more information, go to www.owlpowercompany.com.
Retrofits Extend Dry Town's Water Supply
Orme, the small Tennessee town (pop. 148) 150 miles northwest of Atlanta that ran out of water last year, is finally feeling flush again.
FN reported last fall that the town had run dry due to the drought in the southeast and had to truck water in from surrounding areas. Those limited supplies meant townspeople had running water for only about three hours a day. The town finally came to an agreement to pipe water in from nearby Bridgeport, Ala.
Before solving its supply problem, however, the town first addressed part of its demand problem. The plumbing industry stepped in with enough supplies and manpower to retrofit the entire town with low-flow toilets with self-closing seats, low-flow faucets and shower heads, fittings and more. In one day, the town's plumbing was replaced with more efficient fixtures, giving townspeople about 12 hours of running water, or about four times more effective supply with the same amount of water.
Manitowoc Wins One-Bid Enodis Auction
After months of competing bids presented by ITW and Manitowoc Co. to acquire Enodis PLC, final results appear to be in. At close of business in London yesterday, a one-shot, one-bid auction administered by the U.K.'s Takeover Panel convened, and in the end, the management of Enodis agreed to recommend Manitowoc's bid to its shareholders.
An early announcement provided by Manitowoc stated its successful bid was 328 pence per Enodis share, resulting in a transaction valued at approximately $2.7 billion, including the assumption of Enodis' net debt (approximately $249 million as of March 29). ITW's bid was not made public at press time.
Details remain to be worked out. According to U.K. law, the transaction will be structured as a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Formal approvals by Enodis shareholders, as well as regulatory approvals in various jurisdictions will be required. And according to the release, the Takeover Panel has advised Manitowoc that Illinois Tool Works will withdraw its offer to acquire Enodis subject only to the posting of the scheme document relating to Manitowoc's bid. The amount of ITW's increased bid in the auction process was not disclosed by the Takeover Panel.
In the April 22 edition of FER Fortnightly, we reported "the Manitowoc Co. has agreed to purchase Enodis plc for a sum of $2.1 billion, including the assumption of Enodis debt of approximately $207 million."
But then on May 8, ITW and Enodis announced ITW’s higher offer of $2.1 billion plus debt—which made it a $2.3-billion offer—had been accepted.
Less than two weeks later, on May 19 Enodis announced it had endorsed a new offer from Manitowoc valued at $2.4 billion including debt.
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