Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc.’s new Global Plumbing Group (GPG) has acquired Riobel, a Canadian bathroom showroom brand. Riobel, which is headquartered in St-Jérôme, Quebec, has approximately $40 million in annual sales. As part of its expansion into the plumbing market through GPG, Fortune Brands has also signed an agreement to acquire California-based ROHL and its brands.
“The creation of the GPG platform provides the foundation to accelerate growth in our plumbing segment, providing the critical infrastructure to support a multi-brand, -channel and -geography plumbing business,” said Chris Klein, chief executive officer, Fortune Brands. “Most importantly, the GPG platform enhances the potential for future growth opportunities as we look to grow plumbing sales to $2.5 billion by 2020.”
A release from Fortune Brands states that the GPG platform will support the growth of multiple plumbing brands simultaneously with an enhanced set of products and brands, while leveraging the Company’s global supply chain and broad distribution network. It paves the way for the addition of acquisitions, joint ventures, supply agreements and distribution agreements, and allows for seamless integration of new products and brands. Nicholas Fink, who lead Fortune Brands’ global growth and development team since 2015, has been named president of GPG.
The agreement to acquire ROHL includes the ROHL and Perrin & Rowe brands, as well as a collection with California-based designer Michael Berman. ROHL has around $70 million in annual sales, and brings a design-centric, artisanal approach to its luxury products. At press time the transaction was expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.
“Since our founding in 1983, our family has focused on building a successful business grounded in quality, style and strong partnerships,” said Lou Rohl, president, ROHL. “We are excited to join the Fortune Brands family of companies and enter a new chapter of our growth that will allow us to capture even greater opportunities ahead.”
With the acquisitions, GPG broadens its portfolio offering beyond the Moen brand. According to Fortune Brands, the companies will retain their own brand identities, teams, locations and partners, and other elements of the businesses that have made them successful.
“With the new GPG structure now in place, this is a great time to welcome Riobel, ROHL and Perrin & Rowe into our plumbing business. Today, we have tremendous opportunities to transform our business, enter new markets, develop new products, manage our channels and customers in more holistic ways and optimize a portfolio of brands as we grow at a faster pace,” said Klein. “The GPG platform, strategic acquisitions and joint ventures reflect our continued focus on growing the business. We continue to look at other growth opportunities for the GPG and hope to execute additional transactions as part of our strategy to drive incremental growth.”
