Stanley Black & Decker

[The Voice of Reason]

based on how I read the merger it is pretty much a merger of equals.

this is an all stock deal where Stanley is buying black and decker, but the premium leaces things like this.

Stanley shareholders will own approximately 50.5% of the equity of the combined company and Black & Decker shareholders will own approximately 49.5%. The nine members of the current Stanley Board of Directors will be joined by six new members from Black & Decker’s Board of Directors.

John F. Lundgren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stanley, will be President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Nolan D. Archibald, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Black & Decker, who has been CEO for 24 years, will be Executive Chairman of the combined company for three years

a great link to info from ther Stanley web site

http://newsticker.we...house&id=961080

and here it is. Stanley just became an $8.4 Billion company

Yay for New Britain, Yay for Hartford

The combined company will retain a presence in both Connecticut and Maryland, with its corporate headquarters in New Britain and the Power Tools headquarters remaining in Towson.

[The Voice of Reason]

So, since you guys know I am a massive nerd for this kind of stuff, its been long enough for me to read a dozen or so articles by now as well as do my normal after work stuff.

Here is whats up

Stanley is driving this deal, but like any merger of equals there is a risk that the company acquired sometimes becomes the head of the newly created monster.

As of now the HQ and CEO comes from Hartford, so we as a city benefit, but how things shake out in the long term might not be entirely beneficial to the area.

That being said this is still awsome news for the capitol region.

the merger will add these brands to the Stansly stable, Black & Decker, DeWalt, Porter Cable, Delta machinery, Baldwin, Price Pfister, Kwikset, Dustbuster, and others

combined revenues are 8.4, but would have been $10.6 Billion in 2008 so this makes Stanley the 7th largest fortune 500 company in the state rather than 14th. Stanley flirts with fortune 500 status every year, but with this merger, the company would be be firmly in the 500, and settle around 250 and slightly larger than Starbucks.

A total of about 40,000 employees Stanley keeps 1300 here out of 18k now, and I would suspect there might be a gain of maybe as much as 300 over time(next couple years)  as the company organizes and the extra layer of management takes its place in NB.

it sounds like there will be very little changes right away, the two companys will act fairly independently however as time goes on all bets are off.

the market cap as of close today would be just 6.0 billion, the added value comes from common valuations based on revenues, and everyone, and I mean everuone on the steet likes this deal for BOTH companies. so the stocks of both compaines popped.

Looking at the leadership of both companies, Stanley has younger executives, this bodes well for the hardware city. often times in these mergers of equals, if a company has a younger group of execs they end of taking over as the older guys retire (mergers often happen as a chief exec nears retirement)

[The Voice of Reason]

I want you guys to read this article from Baltimore about this merger and remember how it could have been if the tables were turned.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.merger03nov03,0,6297213.story

everything they talk about losing we are gaining.

This merger is a very big deal in the tool industry. No one even comes close in the US market in terms of size and scope.

New Britain should remain the "Hardware City" for a long time to come.

[HartfordTycoon]

I want you guys to read this article from Baltimore about this merger and remember how it could have been if the tables were turned.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.merger03nov03,0,6297213.story

everything they talk about losing we are gaining.

This merger is a very big deal in the tool industry. No one even comes close in the US market in terms of size and scope.

New Britain should remain the "Hardware City" for a long time to come.

[HartfordTycoon]

This is just such a great deal for NB and CT.

Hartford Courant

With The Stanley Works now in the process of buying Black & Decker for $4.5 billion in stock, the Emhart name seems likely to regain some of its former prominence in Connecticut. One old Emhart division, still part of Black & Decker, is in Shelton.

The combination with Black & Decker — which will more than double Stanley's size — offers a shot of industrial self-esteem for Greater Hartford, and a rare opportunity for the tough-luck manufacturing city of New Britain to expand the headquarters of the firm that has defined it for 166 years.

"Think about what that means to a community like New Britain, where you don't have a large number of — any — corporate employers of their size," said Rathgeber, who grew up in New Britain and remains active in civic affairs there. "You lose your one Fortune 500 company, then that's not just psychologically devastating."

But New Britain isn't losing Stanley. Assuming the deal passes muster with shareholders and regulators, it gains the more powerful headquarters of Stanley Black & Decker. With that comes added clout in the economic life of the region — including control of some of the old Emhart empire.

"Everywhere you go you see Stanley, and Stanley has always meant quality. When you're overseas trying to attract a company from Germany or Malaysia or Brazil and you say, 'Stanley has their headquarters here,' that says something," said Ed Stockton, a former chief economist for United Technologies Corp. who also served as commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development under Gov. Ella T. Grasso. "It's very fortunate that Stanley essentially bought Black & Decker."

Hartford Courant Editorial: Stanley Works Merger Is New Britain's Gain

For once, a state to the south is losing jobs to Connecticut rather than luring them away.

The Stanley Works/Black & Decker merger is Maryland's loss and New Britain's gain. Local hand-tool maker Stanley is buying power-tool company Black & Decker and moving its Towson, Md., headquarters and 250 executive jobs to the Hardware City.

Connecticut knows too well the heartbreak of losing jobs; we feel Maryland's pain. Black & Decker means as much to the Baltimore area as, well, Stanley does to New Britain. Stanley has moved plenty of its Connecticut jobs overseas.

But in a reversal of the usual "Connecticut's costs are too high" mantra from businesses, a Baltimore Sun columnist pointed out that Connecticut's personal and corporate income tax rates are lower than Maryland's.

[T52]

The transaction received approval from the stockholders of both corporations last week. It does not appear that the purchase will have any immediate influence on employment in this area. The CEO of Stanley Works is really a good guy and hopefully this will result in some modest local growth after the dust settles.