Further $90 Million Cash Investment Builds on Successful Partnership
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 3, 2014--
Watsco, Inc. (NYSE: WSO) (Paris: WSO) announced today that it has
acquired an additional 10% ownership interest in Carrier Enterprise LLC,
a joint venture with Carrier Corporation, a part of UTC Building &
Industrial Systems, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The transaction
raises Watsco’s ownership stake to 80%. Consideration for the purchase
was approximately $90 million and was paid in cash.
Carrier Enterprise was launched with Carrier in 2009. It sells a variety
of products manufactured by Carrier along with approximately 25,000 SKUs
of other products from 121 locations in 19 states, Puerto Rico and on an
export basis to the Caribbean and portions of Latin America. Successive
joint ventures were formed by Watsco and Carrier in the Northeast United
States, Mexico and Canada.
Over the last five years, Carrier Enterprise has added 175 employees,
opened or enhanced the physical presence of 58 locations, added new
products and launched innovative technologies, which has produced sales
growth, market share gains, a 570 basis-point expansion of operating
margins and cumulative cash flow that exceeds net income.
Albert Nahmad, Watsco's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer said: "This
marks the five year anniversary of the formation of Carrier Enterprise,
which has proven to be a transformational event for our company. This
collaboration between Watsco and Carrier has produced terrific results
and we are happy to invest further in what has been an unqualified
success for both of our companies.”
Watsco improves indoor living and working environments with air
conditioning and heating solutions that provide comfort regardless of
the outdoor climate. Our solutions also promote healthier indoor spaces
by removing pollutants from the indoor air that can lead to asthma,
allergies and reductions in productivity. Furthermore, since heating and
cooling accounts for approximately half of the energy consumed in a
typical United States home, we offer consumers the greatest opportunity
to save money on energy by replacing existing air conditioning and
heating systems with more energy efficient and environmentally friendly
solutions.
There are approximately 89 million central air conditioning and heating
systems installed in the United States that have been in service for
more than 10 years. Older systems often operate below today’s government
mandated energy efficiency and environmental standards. Watsco has an
opportunity to accelerate the replacement of these systems at a scale
greater than our competitors as the movement toward reducing energy
consumption and its environmental impact continues. We operate from 569
locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, with
additional market coverage on an export basis to Latin America and the
Caribbean. As the industry leader, significant growth potential remains
given that the estimated marketplace in the Americas for HVAC/R products
is $35 billion. Additional information about Watsco may be found at http://www.watsco.com.
Source: Watsco, Inc.
Watsco, Inc.
Barry S. Logan, 305-714-4102
Senior Vice President
e-mail:
blogan@watsco.com