Ali Group Acquires Scotsman Industries

Scotsman Industries is joining The Ali Group, the Italian-based foodservice equipment conglomerate. Ali will acquire Scotsman and all of its brands, including Ice-O-Matic, in a deal announced Nov. 6. The companies did not disclose terms of the transaction, but The Wall Street Journal reported it as a $575 million deal.

The Vernon Hills, Ill., company has been owned by private-equity firm Warburg-Pincus since 2009, when it purchased Scotsman from Manitowoc Co. for $160 million. Manitowoc had acquired Scotsman from Enodis Plc as part of a larger deal.

Scotsman manufactures and distributes ice machines, blast chillers, refrigerated cabinets and other products around the world under the Scotsman Ice, BarLine, Crystal Tips, Ice-O-Matic, Icematic, Simag and Tecnomac brands. It has five manufacturing facilities and 10 major sales offices with more than 800 employees, as well as 1,000-plus distributors, more than 5,000 service technicians, and sales in more than 100 countries.

Closely held Ali Group will add Scotsman to its roster of more than 60 kitchen equipment manufacturers, which includes ACP, Adamatc, Belshaw, Beverage-Air, Champion and Edlund Co. in North America.

The Ali Group is helmed by chairman/CEO Luciano Berti. Scotsman is headed by chairman/CEO David McCulloch.

In other Scotsman news, on Oct. 8, Scotsman China officially opened an office in central Guangzhou to provide better support to its growing business in South China. Guangzhou has been the regional center of Scotsman China’s business since it hired its first regional sales person there in 1998. The office, headed by Zeng Jun, national project manager/south regional sales manager, will have five employees to support sales and service of all Scotsman brands in South China.