Houchens Industries (Bowling Green, KY)

Houchens completes deal for Tampico Beverages discusses how Houchens Industries, the tenth-ranked ESOP on The Employee Ownership 100, acquired Tampico Beverages Inc. as part of its growth and expansion model.

Houchens Industries Inc. on Friday completed its acquisition of Tampico Beverages Inc., part of an aggressive expansion that has included adding a brokerage firm and an optical chain to the employee-owned company..."Our strategy is to diversify our holdings so we don't have too many eggs in one basket, and to buy very profitable companies that have growth potential and have good management," Coates said in an interview.

Houchens said Tampico Beverage will retain its name, employees and management team based in Chicago. It was the latest acquisition by a company that has accelerated its buyout activity since clearing about $1.5 billion from the sale of its Commonwealth Brands cigarette subsidiary to the British company Imperial Tobacco Group PLC in a $1.9 billion deal in 2007…Already this year, Houchens has closed deals to acquire brokerage and financial services firm Hilliard Lyons and the Cohen's Fashion Optical chain. It also acquired regional grocery store chain Buehler Foods and acquired 50 percent interest in a Kentucky-based fence materials distribution company.

The article also discusses how the company is continuing to look for more companies and discusses the company's current holdings and sales:

Houchens' holdings also include convenience stores, restaurants, insurance, construction, manufacturing, recycling, tanning supply distribution and software and Website development. With its latest additions, Houchens' overall yearly sales will reach about $3 billion, Coates said.

Here are some additional related ESOP acquisition posts:

• 2007 ESOP Statistics, Estimating Techniques, 1993 Peak, and Aggressive Acquirers
• Using ESOPs as a Financing Technique
• In the News: An Aggressive Growth Strategy/Paying an ESOP Loan Too Quickly/Mirror Loans/ESOP M&A Issues
• Addressing Benefit and Compensation Issues in an M&A Transaction