York, PA-based tabletop items manufacturer/cataloger Pfaltzgraff Co. has been acquired by Westbury, NY-based Lifetime Brands, a marketer/distributor of consumer home products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the pending acquisition includes all of Pflatzgraff’s brands and intellectual property–its stores, catalog, and Website, and certain other unspecified assets. Pflatzgraff’s design, retail store management, Internet and catalog sales, and call center will continue to operate in York.
Pfaltzgraff spokesperson Floyd Sullivan says that the company had been for sale since April. It attracted several unnamed suitors, but Sullivan says that Lifetime had the best offer and seemed “the best potential fit.” Lifetime plans to consolidate and expand retailing, licensing, catalog sales, and Internet sales under current Pfaltzgraff president Marsha Everton. Pfaltzgraff, which employs about 1,200 people, will officially become a subsidiary of Lifetime once the deal is finalized some time in July.
Pfaltzgraff is Lifetime Brands’ fourth acquisition in less than two years–the $189 million Lifetime recently bought kitchen utensils and cookware manufacturer, Gemco Ware, lighting and wiring specialists Use: Tools for Civilization, and kitchen and barware specialist Excel Corp. “We’re very excited to add Pfaltzgraff into our portfolio. This very well known brand now makes us a bona fide contender in the tabletop market,” says Lifetime Brand’s marketing director Heather Schell. Founded in 1945 as the Lifetime Cutlery Corp., the company was called Lifetime Hoan (for housewares of all nations) since 1991. It changed its name to Lifetime Brands this month because the title better reflects the company’s overall strategy.