# Spectrum Petcare Deal Falls Through...



## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

In case anyone else cares...

The Wall Street Journal reported today that a more or less "done" deal for Spectrum Brands to sell its pet care division to Salton (yes, the maker of the George Foreman grill) fell through. Salton, owned by a hedge fund, was about to pay nearly $700 million to acquire the Spectrum pet business formerly referred to as United Pet Group. This includes the Marineland, Tetra, and Jungle brands. Reports show that senior lenders to Spectrum scuttled the deal, most likely because Spectrum overpaid for all of the brands that they have recently acquired and the cash from Salton wouldn't be enough to right the ship.

Salton owns, through subsidiary Applica, the LitterMaid line of automatic cat boxes. Apparently they saw synergies with fish food. Go figure.

Spectrum shares bottomed out at $1.87 but they have since come back over $2.

I predict that there will be another round of consolidation in the aquarium equipment business. My instinct tells me that MARS petcare (Rena, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals) will either be sold or it will go on a buying spree.


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## sneasle (Jun 25, 2008)

Hmm... thats interesting. The petcare industry has gone through a lot of changes and will continue to evolve as spending on pets continues to increase.


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