Barjan Buys Francis Antenna
In it's quest to own the truck stop market last year,
Barjan bought another top antenna manufacturer. Francis antenna has been
around for many years. They have manufactured low cost, low maintenance
antennas and supplied a lifetime warranty for many years. They finally
reduced the warranty maybe five or so years ago. These fiberglass sticks
are pre-tuned at the factory, just use the suggested length of coax cable,
and as long as you have a good ground plane, you're off and running. In
many cases, they perform as well as the FireStik antennas.
Bringing up FireStik, many rumors were going around
concerning a FireStik Buy-out by Barjan. It hasn't happened. I've been
told FireStik refused the offer. But time will tell, if Barjan wants to
own the three top brand CB truck antenna companies, they still need
FireStik. Bob F
The following is the Barjan/Francis press release:
PRESS CONTACT:
Jeremy Ahto
800/287-2279 ext. 232
jeremy@sspr.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PFINGSTEN
PARTNERS AND ALLSTATE PRIVATE EQUITY ACQUIRE
FRANCIS
INDUSTRIES, EXPANDING BARJAN PRODUCTS’
CB
ANTENNA CAPABILITIES
Transaction adds fourth brand-name CB antenna
line to Barjan’s portfolio
EAST MOLINE,
ILLINOIS (March 1, 2000)—
Pfingsten Partners, L.L.C. and Allstate Private Equity, today announced
that Barjan Products, L.L.C., a national marketer and distributor
of automotive, electronic, entertainment, and general merchandise products
to travel centers, has acquired Francis Industries, Inc., of Pataskala,
Ohio. Francis Industries is a
manufacturer of fiberglass citizen band (CB) and AM/FM radio antennas.
The transaction solidifies Barjan’s status as the country’s top
CB antenna manufacturer.
Effective February 29, 2000, the acquisition is Barjan’s third in
the CB antenna arena, following the purchases of Diesel Eagle in 1998 and
Wilson Electronics Co. in 1999. The purchase is part of a strategic move to gain market share
in both the travel center and the CB dealer channels by offering four
different brands of CB antennas, including Barjan’s own.
It is also the latest step in an ongoing strategic expansion
program that has more than quadrupled Barjan’s sales in the last four
years.
“Francis antennas are well-known in the travel center market, but
they are not generally carried by CB dealers,” said Steve Huber,
President of Barjan Products. “Since
we have a strong presence in both channels, we believe we can increase
sales of the Francis brand, and we also expect this acquisition to build
business for Barjan as a whole by continuing to expand the breadth and
depth of product we have to offer.”
Barjan established its reputation in the travel center market and
expanded to the CB dealer channel when it acquired Wilson Electronics last
year, using Wilson’s established customer base as an entry point.
Barjan now has a dedicated sales force that calls on CB dealers.
Francis has nearly two dozen SKUs, including five different CB
antennas and two different AM/FM radio antennas in a variety of colors.
Even with no advertising and no sales force, the 60- year-old
company has established strong brand equity by selling to travel centers
through major distributors.
“We have had a long history with Barjan, so this sale is a natural
progression for our company,” said William Corban, owner and President
of Francis Industries. “Barjan
has the distribution channels, the sales force, the infrastructure, the
resources and the expertise to build on the foundation that we have put in
place and maximize penetration of the Francis brand.”
Corban will pursue other interests after a short transition period.
All Francis employees will become Barjan employees, and Francis
will continue to operate its Ohio manufacturing facility and warehouse for
the foreseeable future.
Barjan is the largest marketer of automotive, electronic, entertainment,
and general merchandise products to the North American travel center
market. The company also
distributes to truck fleets, truck dealers, retail automotive chains,
convenience stores and CB dealers. Barjan
sells over 9,000 products, including CB radios and antennas sold under the
barjan®, Diesel and Wilson
brand names, cables and accessories, replacement lights and lenses, car
and truck waxes and polishes, chrome, audio cassettes, VHS video tapes and
DVDs, books on tape, paperback books, software products, and a variety of
other trucking and general merchandise.
Barjan is owned by Allstate Private Equity, the private equity division
of Allstate Insurance Company, and Pfingsten Partners, a private equity
firm that acquired Barjan in 1995 in partnership with management and the
company’s independent sales representatives.
Pfingsten
Partners purchased Barjan and the 12 related add-on acquisitions it has
made to date as part of a series of equity investments the firm has made
in Midwest-based companies since 1991.
Pfingsten concentrates on acquiring mature middle market companies
involved in manufacturing, wholesale distribution and publishing in a
program designed to generate profitable investment returns through
long-term business growth rather than through leverage or other types of
financial engineering. Pfingsten
is based in Deerfield, Illinois.
Allstate
Private Equity, a division of Allstate Insurance Company, invests in
middle market companies in specialty manufacturing, business services,
consumer products, media and communications, and building products
industries. Allstate is based
in Northbrook, Illinois.
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