Brunswick Corporation announced that it has acquired Kellogg Marine, a distributor of marine parts and accessories in the Northeast. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Based in Old Lyme, Conn., Kellogg will join with the Brunswick Boat Group's Land 'N' Sea and Benrock units.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Kellogg Marine to our growing parts and accessories (P&A) operations,” explained Dustan E. McCoy, president of the Brunswick Boat Group (BBG). “Kellogg is one of the oldest and most respected names in the business as well as one of the fastest growing marine supply distributors in the U.S. Its Connecticut location provides us with a vital hub in the Northeast and is an integral part of achieving our goal of same-day or next-day delivery of P&A from coast-to-coast and in Canada.”
Brunswick began building a boat P&A business in 2003 with the acquisitions of Land 'N' Sea and Attwood Marine. Since that time, the BBG has added new facilities and purchased the assets of Benrock, another distributor, so that today it has 16 locations throughout North America, including the Old Lyme facility.
“Improving service and parts availability to our own boat dealers as well as to the more than 10,000 independent dealers and repair shops is a key step in our strategy to ultimately remove the hassles from boating, get boaters back on the water faster and embrace our dealers with products and services that will add value and profitability to their businesses,” said Brunswick chairman and chief executive officer George W. Buckley. “Kellogg will now extend these capabilities to the Northeast.”
“This acquisition will augment the Brunswick Boat Group in several ways,” explained Randy Gray, vice president and general manager of the BBG P&A business. “Kellogg has a modern, 90,000-square-foot warehouse and office complex that is very efficient. Its employees are highly skilled, metric driven, and its entrepreneurial management team, which is joining Brunswick, will bring best-in-class operational methods and regional business knowledge that will complement all of our P&A distribution businesses.”
“With approximately 200 employees and more than 300 suppliers, Kellogg Marine will continue to serve its more than 4,000 customers in the Northeast. While Kellogg offers unmatched customer service in its territories, they will deliver even more value to those customers in the future, as Kellogg benefits from the additional resources and support of Brunswick,” Gray said.
“Brunswick was clearly the choice for us,” said Kellogg's vice president and general manager Robert Staehle. “Brunswick's strong commitment to the marine industry and its desire to improve after-market service to remove the hassles from boating made this an easy — and correct — decision.”
