And if you read my quote, it was made by Brunswick Corp as well. But upon further reading, this was in fact a spinoff of Brunswick Corporation assets, not the sale of Brunswick's assets. A realignment of Brunswick's subsidiary corporation's.
Gold Crown 5 still not right!
- Thread starter iinokeii
- Start date
And if you read my quote, it was made by Brunswick Corp as well. But upon further reading, this was in fact a spinoff of Brunswick Corporation assets, not the sale of Brunswick's assets. A realignment of Brunswick's subsidiary corporation's.
Glen,
Your quote is of a press release issued by Brunswick. The second one is a link to a press release issued by the buyer, not by Brunswick.
So they are different press releases issued by the two sides of the deal. They share an agreed content up to a point, but then the buyer added information to highlight the product that it just bought.
By the way, this is not uncommon in my experience. The parties to a deal have different things they want to emphasize to their customers/shareholders etc.
So, I emailed Brunswick directly. I was surprised to how fast they responded. I told them exactly what I've posted here. Table issues, Johnson Fitness, etc.. Kim at Brusnwick said she will reach out to K. at Johnson to get the issues fixed.
"K. Leker
Thank you, I will be happy to reach out to the dealer as we will need to work with them to correct the concerns."
A little bit of hope...
I also called and texted Trent from Toledo, have not heard anything back yet.
"K. Leker
Thank you, I will be happy to reach out to the dealer as we will need to work with them to correct the concerns."
A little bit of hope...
I also called and texted Trent from Toledo, have not heard anything back yet.
If Brunswick sold its table manufacturing division, they wouldn't respond if they no longer owned it. Life fitness took over manufacturing the Brunswick tables in house instead of out of country for most of their tables.
I called and talked to the President of Brunswick Billiards, and Mr. Blank did tell me that "Brunswick Billiards" is still it's own company, but the ownership of the parent company has changed hands, so...its like Jack in the box, it don't matter who owns the corporation, the stores are still Jack in the box......so now, who knows what's going to be changing in the future.
Trent communicates. You’ll hear from him. Kim will most likely do nothing more than maybe call Johnson. You’ll make out better privately. Too nice of a table to have incompetent people touch it.
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Well, no. Brunswick Corporation, the old owner, seemed to have very little interest in promoting Brunswick Billiards, a brand they owned. Brunswick Corporation has sold the brand and business to a completely different owner who may be a lot more interested in making the brand shine again. Or maybe they will sell it for parts. I think the sale could be very important.
Beyond that, Brunswick Billiards has not been "it's own company" for quite a while in the sense that they do not determine their own budgets.
Exactly. The people in Bristol don't own anything. Their new paymaster is KPS Partners or whoever they sell the Life Fitness assets to. You can bet that KPS's beancounters will take a hard look at every brand in the LF portfolio and look to make it profitable then sell it. That's what they do. They don't run businesses , they work to get them solidly in the black and then turn it.
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SLAMMED with work, will call later!!!:thumbup:
Yes, as others have confirmed, these are 2 different press releases issued by 2 different parties designed to emphasize different elements of the sale. But rest assured, Brunswick Billiards is now owned by the PE firm, KPS Partners.
Here is a (very) simplified ownership structure:
Old:
Brunswick Corp. -> Life Fitness -> Brunswick Billiards
New:
KPS Partners -> Life Fitness -> Brunswick Billiards
where A -> B denotes, A owns B.
It is very often the case that when ownership of a company changes hands, the workers and management of that company make a concerted effort to keep the sale quiet. The primary reason is to preserve and not disrupt the supply chain or customer base. i.e. you don't want suppliers worried about not getting paid or having their contracts not renewed, and you don't want customers worried about their warranties being honored or their customer service calls being handled out of New Delhi.
Brunswick Corp. (BC) and Brunswick Billiards (BB) are 2 different entities.
BC used to own Life Fitness (LF) of which BB was a subsidiary.
BC then sold LF to KPS.
Now KPS owns LF which still includes BB.
So if you were to call BC and ask them about BB, they would certainly forward you to either KPS or LF or BB, and hopefully tell you that BB is no longer a part of the BC corporate family.
Most likely, very little. I suspect KPS will do a deep dive into Life Fitness and Brunswick Billiards and try to assess what actions need to be taken in order to optimize profitability of their new portfolio companies. These actions could range from a massive investment into pool and billiards to promote Brunswick Billiards as the once-again leader of the cue-sports industry, or simply minor management changes to improve profitability, or even a complete gutting and closure of BB. who knows?
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Exactly what will happen.
So, I spoke with a Trent from Toledo, he was able to get in contact with John Azzato. The regional sales manager for Brunswick. He has reached out to Johnson’s Fitness to speak to a manager there.
I still have not heard back from a Kimberly from Brunswick, or Karin from Johnson Fitness. Hopefully get an answer soon. I don’t want to contact BBB about this, or leave a bad review. I just want them to do me right as a customer and get this resolved.
Trent is suppose to call me after work, will update then.
I still have not heard back from a Kimberly from Brunswick, or Karin from Johnson Fitness. Hopefully get an answer soon. I don’t want to contact BBB about this, or leave a bad review. I just want them to do me right as a customer and get this resolved.
Trent is suppose to call me after work, will update then.
SORRY! We ended up getting done and started driving home from Philly.SLEEP TIME.
Talk soon,
Trent
Talk soon,
Trent
The buyer side press releases and other statements, and the industry statements about the deal, reference only the fitness assets, with no mention of the billiards-related assets that were acquired. Example: https://www.clubindustry.com/news/brunswick-sell-life-fitness-490-million. That is not surprising, given that Life Fitness is only so big of a company to begin with, and Brunswick Billiards is a modest part of that. It would seem most logical for Life Fitness, under its new ownership, to promptly sell off the billiards business - assuming a buyer can be found!