Brunswick to sell BNT business unit
By IBI Magazine/Michael Verdon
Brunswick announced this morning that it intends to sell most of its Brunswick New Technologies (BNT) business unit. The company said in a statement that it has retained Merrill Lynch & Co. to act as its financial advisor in connection with the sale. In a previous statement, Brunswick said BNT had sales of $356 million for 2005, up 76 percent over the previous year. "This business unit has experienced exceptional growth under Brunswick's ownership over the past few years — especially in the portable land-based navigation segment," said Brunswick chairman and chief executive officer Dustan E. McCoy, in the statement. "As we become increasingly focused on our core business segments - marine, fitness, bowling and billiards — we have determined that continuing to invest in this business unit to fuel growth is not consistent with our long-term strategic objectives. We believe that BNT's excellent long-term prospects may be better achieved under different ownership — one that is focused on BNT's technological expertise — to enable it to reach its full potential." Navman, Northstar and MX Marine brands will be included in the sale. The company said it would retain MotoTron and IDS Integrated Dealer Systems. The statement also noted that its board of directors has authorised the repurchase of up to US$500 million of the company's outstanding common stock. This authorisation supplants the US$200 million authorisation approved by the board in May 2005, under which the company repurchased approximately 3.6 million shares for approximately US$137.8 million. The company currently has approximately 94.5 million shares outstanding. The company is due to release its latest quarterly financial figures this morning.
(27 April 2006)
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