Clorox Said to Get More Than 12 Bids for STP, Armor All Brands
By Jeffrey McCracken and Cristina Alesci - Jul 23, 2010
Clorox Co., the maker of household- cleaning products, received more than 12 preliminary bids for its STP and Armor All auto-care brands, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Blackstone Group LP, Golden Gate Capital and Castle Harlan Inc. are among the private-equity firms and consumer-products companies interested in the assets, said four people, who declined to be identified because the sale is private. Clorox is seeking about $750 million for the assets, the people said.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is handling the sale for Clorox, and first-round bids were due two weeks ago, said the people. Clorox Chief Executive Officer Don Knauss said in May the bleach maker would explore options for auto care because the business has languished for years and isn’t a good fit.
Bidding is now in the second round and management is making presentations to some potential buyers, the people said. The process is expected to last several more weeks and wrap up in late August or early September, said one of the people.
Spokespeople for JPMorgan, Blackstone, and Castle Harlan declined to comment. Golden Gate, based in San Francisco, didn’t immediately return calls. The private-equity firm owns retail brands such as Eddie Bauer. Castle Harlan this week agreed to sell its lawn and garden tool business, Ames True Temper Inc., to Griffon Corp. for $542 million in cash and debt.
Dan Staublin, a spokesman for Oakland, California-based Clorox, declined to comment on the bidding process.
Auto-Care Sales
Proceeds from a sale could be used to help bolster household and professional-cleaning businesses in Latin America and Asia, areas where Clorox has said it wants to expand.
STP and Armor All have annual sales around $300 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization around $95 million, the people said.
Clorox is telling interested parties that the brands offer slow and steady growth, and could benefit on their own instead of tucked inside a consumer-products conglomerate, said people who have looked at the assets.
Clorox rose 49 cents to $65.43 at 4:15 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has gained 7.3 percent this year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jeffrey McCracken in New York at jmccracken3@bloomberg.net; Cristina Alesci in New York at Calesci2@bloomberg.net.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
