Greenwich, CT-based Blyth is spinning off its wholesale group. The move will better enable the company to focus on its catalog, Internet, and direct selling segments. Blyth mails the housewares, gifts, and holiday cards titles Miles Kimball and Walter Drake, photo storage title Exposures, and home products book The Home Marketplace. Its other divisions include Partylite, a direct selling business.
According to Blyth, the spin-off will create the largest publicly traded wholesale decorative home expressions company, with approximately 3,200 employees and estimated revenue of $700 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2006.
The transaction will be completed in the second quarter of fiscal 2006.
Blyth’s wholesale group sells both branded and private-label candles in North America and Europe as well as home decor and seasonal decorations through its CBK and Midwest divisions in North America and its Kaemingk, Edelman and Euro-Decor divisions in Europe. Bruce Crain, currently president of the wholesale group, will be the new company’s CEO.