Stanley Black & Decker’s Acquisition of MTD, Excel Expected to Close by Early 2022

In Stanley Black & Decker Inc.’s Q3 earnings call, which took place October 28th, company CEO and director James M. Loree stated that the recently announced acquisitions of MTD and Excel “are currently progressing through their respective regulatory processes. For MTD, we are happy to say that the United States HSR review is complete; additional reviews are underway in several other smaller countries. We currently anticipate to close in late 2021 or early ’22 for both transactions pending successful completion of the regulatory processes.”

On the MTD and Excel acquisitions, Loree had the following additional comments:

• “The combination of these two high-quality complementary companies with our existing outdoor business creates a powerful growth engine with approximately $4 billion of revenue across all categories and channels in the $25 billion-plus outdoor category.

• “Our legacy outdoor business is benefiting from the long-term trend of electrification, primarily now in handheld products and walk-behind mowers. MTD is one of the leading players in U.S. retail with great brands such as Cub Cadet and Troy-Bilt and brings a relentless dedication to innovation. Excel focuses on zero-turn mowers and offers a range of premier commercial-grade and prosumer equipment, with Tier 1 niche pro brands such as Hustler and BigDog. Excel also brings us access to a strong and extensive professional dealer network. These acquisitions are complementary to each other and fill gaps in our current presence in the outdoor space….”

• “With these acquisitions, we have an … opportunity to lead large-format electrification and outdoor. The customer adoption of electrified riders and zero-turn mowers is still in the early stages but the future potential is compelling. In collaboration with MTD, we have been making great progress since 2019 in developing innovative electrified solutions that offer a compelling value proposition in terms of run time, price point and environmental impact. Additionally, MTD has semiautonomous and autonomous mowing technology, which we will commercialize in the coming years.”

• “Outdoor will undoubtedly unleash an array of impressive innovation over the next few years. Global channel development and professional branding are significant additional revenue synergies that we think as we think about ways to grow sales through our future outdoor activities, applying MTD’s strong innovation with a leading professional brand like DeWalt presents an excellent opportunity to win the pro user with a full line of gas and electric options. To fully realize this potential, we plan to build on our existing position in retail as well as expand our sales in the pro dealer network.”

•  “MTD has a strong presence in the retail channel with approximately 1,500 dealer locations. Excel exclusively distributes through its 1,400 outlet dealer channel, which is largely geographically complementary to MTD’s dealers. The opportunities for brand, product and channel revenue synergies to expand sales and carry accretive margins are both meaningful and exciting. We have an opportunity in the $4 billion high-margin parts service segment as we build our presence and serve our customers.”

The full transcript of the earnings call can be found here.

STANLEY BLACK & DECKER
www.stanleyblackanddecker.com