Bathware producer Maax Inc. of Ste. Marie de Beauce, Quebec, continues to expand its acrylic and composite products business. The firm announced June 28 an agreement to buy Valley Fibrebath Inc. to boost its presence in western Canada and the United States. The company also said that it will invest in more capacity in eastern Canada to enter the mobile home bathware market.
Maax agreed to pay C$11 million (US$8 million) for Valley Fibrebath, a bathware manufacturer headquartered in Armstrong, British Columbia, with annual sales of C$21 million (US$15.3 million).
Valley Fibrebath makes glass-fiber-reinforced and thermoformed acrylic shower stalls, bathtubs and related products in Armstrong and in Airdrie, Alberta, and Monroe, Wash. It opened the Monroe plant near Seattle in mid-1994 after being active on the U.S. West Coast for several years, Peter O'Callahan, vice president of finance, said in a telephone interview.
Maax has had only a small presence in western Canada and has not been active in U.S. West Coast markets, said Marie-France Poulin, vice president of marketing.
Maax announced the acquisition agreement at its annual meeting, where the public company reported record sales and profit for its fiscal year ended Feb. 28, 1994.
U.S. bathware production acquisitions in 1994 and 1993 and internal capacity expansion helped boost Maax's 1994 sales to C$69.8 million (US$51 million) and profit to C$6.1 million (US$4.5 million).
Placide Poulin, president and chief executive officer of Maax, also told shareholders the company will invest more than C$2 million (US$1.5 million) to add capacity at its Ste. Marie de Beauce plant to make bathware for mobile homes, sales of which have been growing at more than 20 percent a year in the southern United States. Maax estimated the new capacity due on stream in November will generate C$50 million (US$36.5 million) of new business over the next four years.
O'Callahan, one of Valley Fibrebath's three owners, said that he and his partners agreed to sell the company to help it grow beyond its base in western Canada.
Maax expects to conclude the purchase on Aug. 16. It will pay C$8 million (US$5.8 million) in cash and the rest in 250,000 Maax common shares.
Poulin also announced Maax acquired the remaining 25 percent of its Xatec subsidiary. Xatec makes molds for Maax and produces glass-fiber-reinforced composite parts for outside customers in transportation and other industries.
Maax reported first-quarter sales of C$19.4 million (US$14.2 million) and profit of C$1.2 million (US$876,000) for the period ended May 31.
