NEWTON, IOWA - Maytag Corp. has agreed to sell its Hoover Co. operations in Australia and New Zealand to focus on core North American major appliance and floor-care businesses, the Newton firm announced Jan. 3. Southcorp Holdings Ltd. of Adelaide, Australia, agreed to pay US$84 million in cash for the Hoover laundry equipment, refrigeration and floor-care products operations with manufacturing plants in Sydney and Mel-bourne, Australia. Maytag said 1994 sales of the operations were $143 million.
The agreement is effective retroactive to Dec. 1. It does not include Hoover operations in the United States or United Kingdom, according to Maytag. The firm said the sale will not have a significant impact on its 1995 earnings.
Southcorp is a diverse public company with an existing range and dishwasher business.
James Powell, a Maytag spokesman, said he could not provide plastic component details about the divested operations or about Southcorp.
Maytag announced in May its intentions to divest the Hoover operations in Australia and New Zealand through an initial public stock offering. It abandoned the plan in September because the new equity market was weak in Australia.
