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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowParis-based Bic Group said today that it has completed the acquisition of Norwood Promotional Products Inc., an Indianapolis-based supplier of promotional products, in a deal worth $162.5 million.
Norwood becomes a subsidiary of Milford, Conn.-based Bic USA Inc., the maker of ink pens and shavers. Bic USA agreed to pay $125 million and assume $37.5 million in liabilities for Norwood, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early May.
Norwood agreed to be acquired by Bic in mid-June.
Bic outbid Aurora Resurgence, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, to acquire Norwood. Norwood has been under the control of lenders, including an affiliate of the Dutch financial services firm ING Group.
Norwood, the nation’s second-biggest seller of promotional products, relocated its headquarters from Austin, Texas, to Indianapolis six years ago. In recent years, it employed about 2,000, including 120 at its downtown headquarters.
The firm had sales last year of $312 million, down from $325 million in 2007. In bankruptcy papers, Norwood said it closed 2008 with assets of $150 million and debt of $295 million.
The company didn’t foresee any employment changes due to the sale.
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