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SBR ACQUIRED BY FORTUNE BRANDS SBR, Inc., Parkersburg, WV, and Fortune Brands, Inc., Deerfield, IL, have announced a definitive agreement for Fortune Brands to acquire SBR through a tax-free merger. The acquisition includes the home products brands of SBR, which include Simonton Windows®, SimEx™, Fypon®, Hy-Lite® Products and Dixie-Pacific™. Operations will continue as they have in the past at the SBR home products subsidiaries with no planned employee cutbacks or facility closings as part of the merger, the company states. Fortune Brands intends for SBR and each of its subsidiaries to continue running independently, with support from its $4 billion home and hardware business that includes Moen, a top faucet brand in North America; MasterBrand Cabinets, a leading supplier of kitchen and bath cabinetry; Therma-Tru, a leading brand of residential entry doors; Master Lock, a world leading padlock brand; and Waterloo, a large manufacturer of tool storage products. SBR, Inc. was founded by Sam Ross in 1972 as a privately-held holding company with a half dozen investors, all of whom are still shareholders today. Following the belief that companies are generally more successful when employees have a high level of ownership, SBR began offering stock to many of its employees in 1981. Today SBR has more than 300 shareholders, many of whom have accumulated a sizeable ownership in the company and will benefit from the merger with Fortune Brands. STORM CATCHER SCREEN CLEARS FBC STATE APPROVAL The Florida Building Commission has issued State Approval #6288 to the Storm Catcher Hurricane Wind Abatement Screen by Storm Smart Building Systems, Inc., Fort Myers, FL. The approval makes Storm Catcher the largest manufacturer of state-approved hurricane wind abatement screens in the United States, the company states. Storm Catcher has been functioning under Florida Building Code Approval #FL804 since February 2004, but this additional approval lends itself to broader engineering standards, allowing for Storm Catcher to be used on larger openings, while keeping the standards of strength and durability seen in the original approval. Storm Smart, the parent company to the Storm Catcher division, was recently named one of the Ten Largest Manufacturing Companies in Lee County (FL), according to the Economic Development Council of Lee County. Storm Catcher restricts itself to manufacturing and wholesaling wind abatement screens. Its network of more than 150 dealers, however, are scattered across the Southeastern United States. “We are ramping up production of the Storm Catcher Screens to an all-time high,” said Brian Rist, president. “With the addition of a new 18,000-square-foot production facility in the Gateway area, we strive to keep turn-around time to a minimum.” ASI ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT PROMOTIONS ASI Building Products (ASIBP) has announced several top management changes. ASIBP is a fabricator and distributor of exterior building supplies serving Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. Jeff Wietholter has been promoted to the role of Divisional Vice President of the North Florida Region. His district includes the areas surrounding Ocala, Orlando, Melbourne, Daytona, Jacksonville and Pensacola, FL; Mobile, AL; and Gulfport, MS. He will manage sales and operations within these areas. Wietholter joined ASIBP in 2005 as a Regional Sales Manager after working several years with Alcoa. Victor Vizcaino has been promoted to Divisional Vice President for ASI’s Southern region. Vizcaino will manage sales and operations within the markets of Miami, Pompano, Rivera Beach, Ft. Myers and Tampa, FL. He originally joined ASIBP in 1996 as Vice President of Distribution. C. W. Cookie Brinkman is taking over as the Vice President of Marketing. In his new post, Brinkman will construct new programs and tools to help spread a wealth of building supply knowledge to customers. Brinkman joined ASI in the late 1990s after working with Alcoa for 20 years. ALLSTATE TO SPREAD HURRICANE COSTS Allstate Insurance Co., Northbrook, IL, says it will recoup the higher costs of its reinsurance in markets beyond the usual disaster-prone areas. In January, the insurance company, hurt by last year’s hurricanes (see HP, Spring 2006, page 6), stated it was buying billions of dollars in reinsurance to help cover the cost of future disaster claims. In March, Allstate said it was planning to file more then 300 rate proposals across the nation that will take into account these higher costs. SIMONTON A SPONSOR OF WEATHER MUSEUM Simonton Windows®, Parkersburg, WV, is donating 60 hurricane-resistant StormBreaker Plus™ vinyl windows to protect the John C. Freeman Weather Museum, Houston, TX, the nation’s first national museum dedicated to weather. Located in Houston’s historic museum district, the Weather Museum is a project of the Weather Research Center. It will be a facility where people of all ages can come to learn about the weather, its history and public safety. “Understanding the science behind weather formation and the ways in which storms develop is crucial to all of us so that lives and property can be protected,” said Jill Hasling, executive director of the Weather Research Center. Founded in 1987, the Weather Research Center manages a non-profit worldwide forecasting operation and provides groundbreaking research to scientists around the globe. Meteorologists work on severe weather advisories, marine forecasts, long-range outlooks, environmental studies and forensic meteorology services. SECURITY TOPS COMFORT, DESIGN, FIRE SAFETY IN BUILDING SURVEY Security outranked comfort, fire safety, environmental friendliness and attractive design as the most important building feature in a survey conducted by the Society for Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE), Bethesda, MD. The study also found that almost half of those surveyed felt safer in their homes compared to public and commercial buildings. Twenty-eight percent of Americans feel building security is the most important feature, while 15 percent of respondents indicated that fire safety is the most important aspect of a building’s design. The survey also revealed that 56 percent of Americans think about fire and the dangers of fire either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. A sizeable 44 percent think about fire just once a year—or less. This finding remains unchanged from 12 months ago when the same question was asked. Another noteworthy finding from the survey revealed that 44 percent of Americans feel safer in their homes when compared to public and commercial buildings such as schools, churches and offices. The Society of Fire Protection Engineers points out that perceptions can be dangerously misleading. For example, tighter security (locked exit doors) contributed to the deaths of 175 concertgoers at a Buenos Aires nightclub fire in 2004, and because building regulations have stricter fire safety requirements for public buildings than they do for homes, more people are more often at higher risk from fire at home. The survey was commissioned by the SFPE and conducted by Synovate, polling more than 1,000 American adults. The findings have a margin of error of plus or minus three percent. |