Newell sells Diamond match, and buyer closes last U.S. wood match factory
Photo By www.leoadaly.com
CLOQUET, Minn. - Newell Brands Inc. will sell its Pine Mountain fire starters and fire logs business as well as its Diamond matches, fire starters, lighters, toothpicks, clothespins and clotheslines business to Royal Oak Enterprise, known for charcoal, grilling planks and other outdoor cooking products.
Martin E. Franklin and Ian G. H. Ashken, members of Newell Brands’ board of directors, are affiliated with privately held Royal Oak, based in Roswell, Georgia. The transaction was set to close in the second quarter of 2017.
Since the deal was first announced, Royal Oak has determined it will close the newly acquired 85-employee Cloquet, Minnesota, Diamond match stick plant, the last wood match manufacturing facility in the U.S. A report by Minnesota Pubic Radio posted by the United Steel Workers Local 970 which represents workers at the plant, says the plant will close between July 28 and August 11.
Cloquet is also home to a Sappi wood fiber plant that hasa converted from paper pulp manufacturing to cellulose production, used for fabric and as an anti-clumping agent for grated cheese.
Source: CC BY-SA 3.0 commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php
Newell Brands produces Elmer's Glue and Rubbermaid Commercial Products, among many other consumer products.
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.