Bloem acquires American Designer Pottery from Fiskars Brands

Bloem acquires American Designer Pottery from Fiskars Brands

Bloem LLC, a Hudsonville-based manufacturer of planters and outdoor products, acquired American Designer Pottery, a division of Fiskars Brands Inc.

The strategic acquisition makes Bloem one of the largest designers and producers of decorative planters, with more than 30 percent market share in the U.S.

Bloem sells products to 10,000 regional retailers, home and garden centers, and co-op stores in all 50 states and across Canada.

The deal with Fiskars — a global supplier of home, garden and outdoors consumer products — was the largest of three acquisitions in three years for the fast-growing Bloem and gives the company its “first big step” in distributing through major national retailers, President Ryan Mast said.

The prior acquisitions — for the assets and inventory of Duraco Products Inc. in Illinois and a Wisconsin maker of fabric containers — set the foundation for the deal for American Design Pottery, said Mast, who founded Bloem in 2012 in his basement.

“This is the natural next step for us,” he said. “It’s going to be a good fit.”

Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

The Apopka, Fla.-based American Design Pottery had sales of $27.5 million in 2015 and employs nearly 50 full-time employees and about 100 part-time and seasonal workers during peak production. Bloem plans to maintain and expand the operations in Florida and hire 10 more employees in Hudsonville to manage the business growth.

Through the acquisition, Bloem now employs about 160 people full time and can generate efficiencies in its production and distribution operations, Mast said.

“The plan going forward is to leverage those synergies at each level and apply them to the various levels of customers, whether it be national retailers or the regional chains or the garden centers,” he said. “It’s basically a play for everybody to make everybody more cost effective and more efficient.”

After the latest deal, Bloem will likely pull back on acquisitions and focus more on organic growth. The company plans to invest more and “take an aggressive stance” in the research, development and design of new products, Mast said.