With the recent announcement of the sale of all Brunswick bowling centers to AMF Bowlmor and the search for a buyer for the ball manufacturing division, there have been many questions about our sponsorship. First of all, the sale of the bowling centers is expected to take about three months to finalize and the search for a "suitable buyer" for the ball division has just started, so I don't anticipate anything changing for this season.
What follows is an announcement from the ball manufacturing division of Brunswick:
As you are all aware, Brunswick Corporation has announced several important developments, including the following:
1. The Company has agreed to sell its retail bowling business to Bowlmor AMF. Brunswick anticipates closing the transaction during the third quarter.
2. In connection with this decision, Brunswick also announced its intention to sell its Bowling Products business.
Sometimes a business is sold because it is underperforming. However, this is certainly not the case with our Retail Bowling business, and the same is true for Brunswick Bowling Products. While the bowling divisions have been a dependable business for many years for Brunswick, the corporation believes that it is more important to focus investments into the core Marine and Fitness businesses.
The Bowlmor AMF bid, which was unsolicited, provides a unique opportunity to transfer ownership of its retail bowling business at an attractive valuation that was in the best interests of the shareholders. Further, due to the divestiture of the bowling retail business, Brunswick decided that Bowling Products is no longer a good strategic fit for the corporation. Therefore, an advisor has been retained to seek a suitable buyer for the bowling products business with the sale targeted for completion by the end of the year.
Of course, it is Brunswick Bowling Products that supplies the bowling industry with the worlds best bowling capital equipment, parts, supplies, consumer products and customer support. However, Brunswick Corporations announcement to sell Brunswick Bowling Products should have little impact on our operations. Brunswick Bowling Products remains a profitable and financially healthy business that continues to invest in new products and services. While we do not know who will acquire Brunswick Bowling Products, we firmly believe that any potential buyer will see the continued value in our business and will continue with our traditions of excellent products and customer service. The current plan assumes that the eventual purchaser will retain both our manufacturing operations and our talented workforce.
Although we will all have to wait a bit longer for the completion of the sale process, we are confident that we will find a buyer who will value the strengths of Brunswick Bowling Products, our employees, products and industry leading brand.
During the sale process, Brunswick Bowling Products will maintain ongoing operations within Brunswick Corporation and will operate as business as usual.
We appreciate your continued partnership with Brunswick through this transition process, and will keep you regularly updated regarding our progress.
That we resigned with Brunswick and everything is the same as last year for the foreseeable future. When, and if, they sell the product division, something might change, but we still got our contract.
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"It's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us."
Effective September 15, 2014, any Brunswick, DV8, or Radical (or Siaair pad) orders shipped to an individual address as opposed to me will be charged whatever the state sales tax rate is in the destination state.
This means I can still get equipment shipped to individual addresses, but you'll have to look up your home state sales tax rate and add it before submitting the order to me.
