Blyth, Inc.

Blyth Incorporated
Private
Industry Home accessories
Founded 1976 (1976)
Headquarters Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Key people
 Robert B. Goergen, Sr. (Founder, Chairman and CEO)
Revenue Increase US$ 1.179 billion (2012)[1]
Increase US$ 84.566 million (2012)[1]
Decrease US$ 10.046 million (2012)[1]
Total assets Decrease US$ 321.604 million (2012)[1]
Total equity Decrease US$ 58.804 million (2012)[1]
Owner Carlyle Group
Number of employees
 1,700 (Dec 2012)[1]
Website www.blyth.com

Coordinates: 41°01′00″N 73°38′56″W / 41.01674°N 73.64890°W / 41.01674; -73.64890

Blyth, Inc. is a Greenwich, Connecticut based marketing and manufacturing company that sells personal and decorative products. The company reported having 4,000 employees as of January 2007 and is incorporated in Delaware. In 2001, it was the largest candlemaker in the United States. Subsidiaries include the PartyLite direct sales business.

May 13, 2002: Blyth, Inc. (NYSE:BTH), announced that it has acquired all of the membership interest in CBK, Ltd., LLC, a designer and marketer of giftware and home decor, sold under the CBK(TM) brand. The effective date of the acquisition was May 10, 2002.[2] Blyth purchased the interests in CBK for total cash consideration of approximately $49.5 million. Midwest CBK was sold to MVP Group International in 2011.[3]

On April 14, 2004, Blyth restated its financial statement footnotes for the period ended April 30, 2003, to reflect their segments as revised as of January 31, 2004 based on FASB Statement No. 131, "Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information".

CBK will remain obligated on its indebtedness,including approximately $4.8 million of long-term debt. The purchase price reflects an EBIT multiple in keeping with the Company's practice and objectives. Blyth anticipates CBK's annualized sales to be approximately $80 million and that it will be accretive to its fiscal year 2003 earnings per share.[2]

In 2012 Blyth sold the brand Sterno, which it had acquired in 1997.[4][5]

In 2015, Blyth was acquired by the private equity firm Carlyle Group.[6] Subsidiary Silver Star Brands was sold to Crosby Rock, leaving Blyth with PartyLife.[7]

ViSalus

In 2008 Blyth began a multi-stage takeover of ViSalus, a multi-level marketing company which sells nutritional supplements and energy drinks. In the first stage of the takeover Blyth purchased a 43.6% equity interest for $14.0 million.[8][9] In 2011 Blyth invested an additional $2.5 million and increasing their ownership share to 57.5%.[10]

By August 2012 Blyth owned a 73% share of Visalus and planned a spin off of the company in an initial public offering. In September 2012, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Blyth's credit from "stable" to "negative,"[11] Blyth stated that ViSalus's growth was not properly valued, and Blyth withdrew the IPO citing uncertain market conditions.[12][13]

In September 2014, ViSalus' founders and select stockholders arranged to buy back control of the company from Blyth. Blyth remained an equity holder with 10% of ViSalus's stock.[14][15][16] The transaction eliminated Blyth's obligation to pay the co-founders $143.2 million as part of the 2008 acquisition. At the time of the transaction, ViSalus' earnings and revenue had declined from a high-point in 2012, and the company had been operating at a loss for 2013 and the first two quarters of 2014.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Blyth, Inc., Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Mar 14, 2013". secdatabase.com. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Blyth, Inc., Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date May 15, 2002". secdatabase.com. Retrieved Feb 13, 2013.
  3. ↑ "MVP Group Acquires Midwest-CBK | Home Furnishings News". www.hfnmag.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Blyth, Inc. Announces Sale Of Sterno Business (Press release)". Bloomberg. PR Newswire. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Blyth Timeline". Blyth, Inc. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  6. ↑ Carlyle Drops $98M On Candle Merchant
  7. ↑ Crosby Rock
  8. ↑ Edgar Online via Yahoo Finance. "Blyth Inc. 10K - 4/18/2011". Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  9. ↑ DM News. "Blyth Makes Two Acquisitions". Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Blyth, Inc. Completes Third Closing of ViSalus Acquisition". Reuters. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Moody's lowers outlook on Blyth". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 20, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
  12. ↑ Blyth's ViSalus unit pulls plans for IPO, Marketwatch, 26 September 2012, retrieved 10 February 2013
  13. ↑ Boyd, Roddy (26 November 2012). "The Infernal Machine: From Powder to Dust". Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "ViSalus Completes Founder-Led Management Buyout (Press Release)". MarketWatch. PR Newswire. 5 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  15. 1 2 Walsh, Dustin (14 September 2014). "ViSalus co-founders buy back stake, launch new product line". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "Blyth Inc. (BTH) Is Up Sharply After Majority Sale Of ViSalus". RTT News. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
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