New Owner Opens Doors for Anthony in Europe, Asia

With a new owner in place, Anthony International Inc. is preparing to expand its market share in Europe and emerging nations in Asia. The Sylmar-based refrigerator and freezer door manufacturer changed hands in a recent sale between private equity firms. Avista Capital Partners, based in New York, purchased the company from Los Angeles-based Aurora Capital Group for an undisclosed amount. The new ownership will not affect operations at the headquarters in Sylmar or other facilities, and the company’s current management team will remain in place. Avista was among 50 investment firms that expressed an interest in Anthony, and the firm brings an international understanding needed to break into foreign markets, Anthony President and CEO Jeffrey Clark said. “That’s where our future is for growth and income,” Clark said. Anthony has a little less than 20 percent of its market share overseas and wants to boost that to 50 percent in five years. The company has cornered about 70 percent of the North American market, Clark said. Anthony leads the industry in innovations for its doors and frames that help conserve energy and reduce power consumption by retailers, said company Chief Financial Officer Daniel Zeddy. Anthony can bring this expertise to emerging nations in Asia, where power supplies often can be interrupted, to keep food fresh and prevent spoilage, Zeddy said. Any U.S. company reaching out to overseas markets is doing the right thing as business growth is heavily weighed toward foreign customers, said Jeff Williamson, statewide director for the Centers for International Trade Development, a state-sponsored economic development program. Even if the U.S. economy expands, the rest of the world’s economy is expanding even faster, Williamson said, noting China and India will eventually become the world’s top two economies. Increasingly, companies want to have operations closer to their foreign markets, Williamson said. “They have people knowledgeable about local conditions and have quicker turnaround and product development times,” Williamson said. “It makes them more competitive.” New ownership brings opportunity Clark said the change in ownership is the third in his 22 years at Anthony. Each investor has helped to shape the company’s future, whether by boosting revenues, or during Aurora’s tenure, improving operations, he said. Aurora became a majority owner in 2005. A sale was part of its exit strategy to recoup its investment, Clark said. Company officials from Aurora and Avista Capital announced the deal after it closed in June. Attempts to reach representatives from the companies were not successful. In a prepared statement, Chairman Gerald Parsky called Aurora’s partnership with Anthony “a clear demonstration of its strategy to provide the resources for middle market companies to reach a new level of performance.” David Durkin, a partner with Avista, said in a prepared statement that Anthony fits the firm’s strategy of “partnering with superior management teams to invest in and add value to well-positioned businesses.” Avista invests primarily in the energy, health care and media sectors. Anthony is the firm’s first investment in the manufacturing sector. Clarks said Anthony was appealing to Avista because it is a stable company with a proven track record and it’s known for creating innovative products. Anthony picked Avista based on the company’s “personality and expertise” as well as its “international footprint,” Clark said. Company management used the sale as a chance to increase its ownership stake, Clark said. He would not disclose what percentage he and other executives now own, but added that the increase “shows our commitment to the future of the company and its growth potential.” Anthony has taken steps in the past few years to expand its reach in foreign markets. In 2007, Anthony acquired Flying Glass Co., a manufacturer of insulated glass doors for the commercial refrigeration markets in Asian and some European countries. Two years later, the company bought VAL S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer of curved tempered glass and refrigerator doors. Last year, the company signed a licensing agreement with Glacier, a business unit of Universal Industries, to get its products into the South African, African and Indian refrigeration markets. Access to Avista’s experts, such as Allen Yurko, a former head of a London-based company in the refrigeration industry, can help Anthony grow into new markets, Clark said. Growth plans also include acquisitions, he said, declining to give details on those plans.