Scotts Selling Its Professional Business

Scotts Selling Its Professional Business

Scotts Miracle-Gro announced today it is selling its professional business for $270 million to Israel Chemical (ICL), a company that extracts minerals from the Dead Sea to make fertilizer. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011.

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The plan now, according to Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn, is for the company to continue building its consumer business.

“Over the past two years, we have evolved our business portfolio to better leverage growth opportunities within our global consumer segment, allowing us to better drive shareholder value,” Hagedorn says. “While we are proud of the efforts our global professional team has put forward over the years, we believe their ability to continue driving growth will be enhanced by being part of ICL, which has articulated a clear vision to invest in this business and support its growth.”

In fiscal 2010, Scotts’ professional business had sales of $242 million, which represents 8 percent of the company’s total sales. ICL, according to Bloomberg online, has annual revenues of about $242 million–and it plans to purchase Scotts with cash.

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“We are pleased to find a buyer that values Global Professional’s market leadership position, talented people, respected brands and customer relationships,” Hagedorn says. “ICL has extensive experience in global markets, is a leader in the global fertilizer industry and is committed to achieving business success. These attributes give us confidence that the global professional (division) will be a good fit with ICL.

Adds Yossi Shahar, ICL’s executive vice president corporate development: “This acquisition will establish ICL as the leading player in certain specialty fertilizers and specialty inputs markets.”

Both companies indicate they plan to make the transition a smooth one for associates, customers and suppliers.

Stay tuned to GreenhouseGrower.com for more information.

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