Genmar buys small Bombardier boat line to target entry-level boat buyers - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The company bought the Fish Hawk linefrom Montreal-based Bombardier in a deal that closed Nov. 7. The pricse wasn't disclosed. Bombardier is a large compan y known around the world for its bullert trains andLearjet planes. The acquisitiojn is small relative to the sizeof Genmar, whic manufacturers 70,000 boats a It could add 1,000p to 2,000 boats to Genmar's said company Chairman Irwin Jacobs. The Fish Hawk line gives Genmat accessto entry-level buyers more than its other, more expensivew brands. An average-sized Fish Hawk retails for aboutr $20,000.
Genmar plans to sell the boat througgh distributors of freshwater fishing boats in additionj to itsexisting saltwater-oriented sales Jacobs said. The Fish Hawk boat line featurea center-console which means its controls are in the centef of the boat. "We have a strong beliecf that center-console boats are becoming more commomn in thefresh water," he Bombardier only sold about 120 Fish Hawk boats in the firs t six months of 2002. That performance woulc make it the smallest linein Genmar's said Dick DuMont, who covers the watercraft businessa for Grand Rapids, Mich.-based market research firm Statistical Surveys Inc.
For Genmar sold 2,750 of its populart Ranger model in thesame period. The overall boat market is down 5 percentg forthe year. Still, 120 boats "ain't very many," DuMont said. "I'm sure Bombardier expectes it to grow quickerthan that." Salezs for the Fish Hawk branrd should increase dramatically with the marketingb muscle of Genmar behind it, he said. Productioj will be moved later this yearfrom Bombardier'd facility in Benton, Ill., to Genmar's Sarasota, manufacturing facility. Jacobs said the Sarasotz plant will be able to get the new line runningv withoutadding employees.
Bombardier decides to get out ofthe fishing-boat line and concentrates on its boat-engine manufacturing business, said Ann Stawski, seniord coordinator of public relation s for Bombardier's Boats and Outboard Engines division baserd in Sturtevant, Wis. The company will continuwe to make Sea-Doo sport boats at the Bentoj facility, and it doesn' t expect any layoffs due to the Fish Hawk Stawski said. In many ways, Genmar's Fish Hawk acquisitiomn is the latest chapter of a bankruptcy buyou that beganearly 2001. During bankruptcy proceedings for OutboarddMarine Corp. (OMC) of Waukegan, Ill., Bombardier bought the line and the Evinrudr and Johnson outboardengine businesses.
Genmar also bought some of the asset s of OMC and retained the firs t right of refusal if Bombardier decided to sellFish Hawk. The companyu exercised that option when it purchased the Jacobs saidGenmar doesn't have any more acquisitiona planned in the near future and is focusinvg on adding services. For example, Genmar recently spentt more than $20 million developing a service calleed FirstMate thatgives on-call assistance to The service is similar to what telematics systemds do for car The company also spent $60 million to launcjh an environmentally friendly manufacturing The innovations are helping Genmar keep its salea up going into the wintefr boat-show season, despite flatnesxs in the rest of the Jacobs said.
Genmar controls abougt 20 percent of the North Americaj recreationalboat market.