NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

[SD DIESEL]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

I was in my local Mirror Glaze store 3 weeks ago when they opened the letter saying price increase by nov. 1 and it was 10-15%,

[Markus Kleis]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

I wonder what Mike Phillips thinks about all this.

I don't mean to put words in his mouth, (and hopefully I am not...) but I had a chance to speak with him a bit earlier today (Well shoot, yesterday now that it is past midnight) and he seemed 100% positive! In fact, I think he wouldn't even have felt the need to address the topic had I not brought it up (That's how LITTLE he is worried about it, and let's be honest- Mike has more on the line here than any of us do!).

The outlook is truly 100% positive over at Meguiar's, it isn't smoke and mirrors. Mike (like many of us) is focusing on the POTENTIAL for positive growth and product integration. It's no secret that Meguiar's is the detailing supply king in our eyes, 3M and EDGE System Pads each had some winners in their line-ups as well. Now that they have all joined forces they have the potential to produce some absolutely stellar products and product lines, and hopefully even improve their distribution channels at the same time.

[Alfisti]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

I wonder what Mike Phillips thinks about all this.

[ZoranC]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

... the owner of the Ace Cafe outside London, England even phoned during the meeting to say he'd seen the news.

World is definitely getting smaller.

[Stevens Detailing]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Thanks for that, Bob, and to all the rest of you who responded in kind.

The guys from 3M have been here for a couple of days and of course presented at our meeting yesterday morning. Barry was, naturally, very adamant that any partner he may take on would have to fully "get" us. 3M is acutely aware of the success of the Meguiar's brand and freely admit to "being in awe" of what Meguiar's has done with relatively limited resources. They have witnessed first hand the level of customer loyalty Meguiar's enjoys, even coming right out and saying they've never seen anything like it in the past. Ever. Not even close.

While not every detail has been 100% defined (and even if it were, well, some things are not for public consumption, you know?) the basic gist is this: 3M knows that to mess with the brand is a bad thing - they're here to infuse the resources necessary to grow Meguiar's into a global force, and to do it far more quickly than Meguiar's ever could on its own. This is an intelligent and savvy group. Exciting times ahead.

Thanks Mike.

Everything will just get better than it already is because Barry would never put the dollar before his passion. Good things are ahead.

[jfelbab]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Well, I retired from the detailing business recently but if I was still doing the volume I used to, I'd be considering stocking up on my go-to products to make sure there were no blind surprises hitting my operation. This would give me time to learn and transition to other products in the event of lines being dropped or products being suddenly eliminated.

I've been through a few of these types of acquisitions in my career and when the 500 pound gorilla buys your small company they hardly pay any attention the the way you used to operate it. They have their own ideas and as been mentioned are solely driven by quarter over quarter profit for shareholders as they should be.

I'm in the group that is saddened by this announcement.

[seth1066]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Being involved in several acquisition & divestiture deals in the past, here are what I speculate will happened...

1) Business culture within the selling group (Meguiar’s) will change
2) Some people (usually those from the selling company) will be “restructured” out of the business (there will be loads of restructuring funds to pay of this)
3) The key personnel within the selling group (Meguiar’s) will remain until such time the merger is stabilized or the newly appointed head from the buying group (3M) is ready to take over
4) Technical & sales personnel job should be safe for now but the support, admin or backroom functions will probably be combined and layoff can be expected
5) Products lineup will be streamlined
6) Prices will go up
7) Products deemed unprofitable or duplicated will be shelved
8) Distribution channels will be disrupted albeit temporarily
9) End users will eventually pay for the buyout!!!

I don't like the news one bit but life goes on...all the best guys!

I think you're confusing 3M's aquisition with the purchase of a sub standard, marginally profitable company bought on the cheap.

How about this: 3M doubles Meguiar's budget who then goes on to triple sales and profits.


"9) End users will eventually pay for the buyout!!!"

This is always true, no matter what. When Barry's grandfather, Frank Meguiar, first went into business 107 years ago, I'm pretty sure that the "end users eventually" paid back his original capital outlay, sweat equity and then some. Same thing happened with Henry Ford and millions of other companies worldwide.

Meguiar's sold a $100 million of product last year, at a profit. 3M paid that profit multiplied by X. In X years, they will get their investment back from the "end users." In the meantime, they are out millions in either cash, stock dilution or a combination of the two and they take all the risks. The latter, imo, puts a damper on them wanting to overly change the current (and proven) system.

[sneek]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

I am pumped to see what this brings in terms of products. I like a lot of 3M's products but they usually seem to demand a healthy price premium. If they don't change the prices by too too much I will be GREATLY pleased.

[Toolman]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Being involved in several acquisition & divestiture deals in the past, here are what I speculate will happened...

1) Business culture within the selling group (Meguiar’s) will change
2) Some people (usually those from the selling company) will be “restructured” out of the business (there will be loads of restructuring funds to pay of this)
3) The key personnel within the selling group (Meguiar’s) will remain until such time the merger is stabilized or the newly appointed head from the buying group (3M) is ready to take over
4) Technical & sales personnel job should be safe for now but the support, admin or backroom functions will probably be combined and layoff can be expected
5) Products lineup will be streamlined
6) Prices will go up
7) Products deemed unprofitable or duplicated will be shelved
8) Distribution channels will be disrupted albeit temporarily
9) End users will eventually pay for the buyout!!!

I don't like the news one bit but life goes on...all the best guys!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Thanks, Mike, great news for Meguiar's. Any way to quell or confirm the price increase rumors, or too early on to tell?

There was no discussion whatsoever about price increases or anything related to products/lines/etc.

David Bynon at Autopia made some valid comments about price increases industry wide due to the rapid escalation in oil prices. But similar price increases have also been seen at grocery stores, clothing stores, airfares, etc. Basically anything that utilizes any sort of petroleum product in its manufacturing process, or is transported via any sort of petroleum powered vehicle could potentially face a price increase. And yes, I realize that narrows things down to "everything on earth"

[seth1066]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Thanks for that, Bob, and to all the rest of you who responded in kind.

The guys from 3M have been here for a couple of days and of course presented at our meeting yesterday morning. Barry was, naturally, very adamant that any partner he may take on would have to fully "get" us. 3M is acutely aware of the success of the Meguiar's brand and freely admit to "being in awe" of what Meguiar's has done with relatively limited resources. They have witnessed first hand the level of customer loyalty Meguiar's enjoys, even coming right out and saying they've never seen anything like it in the past. Ever. Not even close.

While not every detail has been 100% defined (and even if it were, well, some things are not for public consumption, you know?) the basic gist is this: 3M knows that to mess with the brand is a bad thing - they're here to infuse the resources necessary to grow Meguiar's into a global force, and to do it far more quickly than Meguiar's ever could on its own. This is an intelligent and savvy group. Exciting times ahead.

Thanks, Mike, great news for Meguiar's. Any way to quell or confirm the price increase rumors, or too early on to tell?

[BlueZero]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

the basic gist is this: 3M knows that to mess with the brand is a bad thing - they're here to infuse the resources necessary to grow Meguiar's into a global force, and to do it far more quickly than Meguiar's ever could on its own. This is an intelligent and savvy group. Exciting times ahead.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Regarding Autopia posting this news before MOL did:

It appears the official press release from 3M was on or about 1:00PM Eastern/10:00AM Pacific. All Meguiar's employees were in a meeting at that time - the folks at Autopia were not and could post as soon as they saw the AP news feed. Mike Pennington didn't post it until we all got out of the meeting and back to the office. Nothing strange in that. News travels pretty quickly these days - the owner of the Ace Cafe outside London, England even phoned during the meeting to say he'd seen the news.

[ZoranC]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

The press release from 3M was put out on Monday at 1:00 PM. Autopia announced it at 3:15 PM.

Then Autopia's timestamp is misleading me as it was saying noon to me.

[acsuppa]

Re: NEWS RELEASE - 3M to Acquire Meguiar's, Inc.

Thanks for that, Bob, and to all the rest of you who responded in kind.

The guys from 3M have been here for a couple of days and of course presented at our meeting yesterday morning. Barry was, naturally, very adamant that any partner he may take on would have to fully "get" us. 3M is acutely aware of the success of the Meguiar's brand and freely admit to "being in awe" of what Meguiar's has done with relatively limited resources. They have witnessed first hand the level of customer loyalty Meguiar's enjoys, even coming right out and saying they've never seen anything like it in the past. Ever. Not even close.

While not every detail has been 100% defined (and even if it were, well, some things are not for public consumption, you know?) the basic gist is this: 3M knows that to mess with the brand is a bad thing - they're here to infuse the resources necessary to grow Meguiar's into a global force, and to do it far more quickly than Meguiar's ever could on its own. This is an intelligent and savvy group. Exciting times ahead.

Sounds real good.