Alliance Laundry Systems

Alliance Laundry Systems LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryOn premise laundry, Self-service laundry
PredecessorBarlow & Seelig Manufacturing
McGraw-Edison's appliance division
Raytheon Commercial Laundry
Founded1998
HeadquartersRipon, Wisconsin, United States
Key people
Mike Schoeb - CEO
ProductsSpeed Queen
UniMac
Huebsch
IPSO
Primus
Cissle (discontinued)
OwnersBDT Capital Partners (majority stake)
Teachers' Private Capital
(Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan) (minority stake)[1][2]
MembersCSC ServiceWorks, Inc. (29.7% stake owned by Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan)[2]
Number of employees
2,730 (2014)[3]

Alliance Laundry Systems LLC is a provider of commercial laundry systems. The company designs, manufactures, and markets a line of commercial laundry equipment under various brands in over 100 countries.[4] Among the company’s products are washers, drying tumblers and ironers for the coin laundry, multi-housing laundries, institutional laundries and laundries for consumer residences. Alliance Laundry Systems manufactures products under the brands Speed Queen,[5][6][7] Primus, Huebsch, IPSO, and UniMac. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Ripon, Wisconsin.[8] However, Alliance claims Speed Queen's founding date of 1908 as the beginning for the company. [9]

History

Background

The company's precursor Barlow & Seelig Manufacturing was established in 1908 and later introduced a hand-operated washer to the marketplace. The Speed Queen brand was created in 1928 with the introduction of stainless steel wash tubs in 1939[10] and automatic washers and dryers in 1952.[11] Eventually Barlow & Seelig was renamed Speed Queen Company, and was later purchased by McGraw-Edison. In 1979, McGraw-Edison sold its appliance division to Raytheon Company.

Formation

In February 1998, private equity firm Bain Capital agreed to acquire the commercial laundry business from Raytheon for $358 million.[12][13][14][15] And as a result, Alliance Laundry Systems was formed.

In January 2005, Teachers' Private Capital, the private equity affiliate of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan acquired the majority of the equity interests of Alliance Laundry for $450 million.[16][17][2]

In 2009, the Alliance Laundry Systems University (ALSU) was founded as a corporate university available online to authorized Alliance Laundry Systems distributors, route operators and customers.[18]

In March 2014, the Alliance Laundry acquired Primus Laundry Equipment headquartered in Gullegem, Belgium for approx. $259.4 million.[3][19][20]

In April 2015, it was reported that Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan was planning to sell Alliance Laundry or issue an IPO, valuing the business at $1.8 billion.[21][22] Later in 2015, a majority stake was sold to BDT Capital Partners. The Pension Plan retained a minority stake in the company.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "BDT Capital Partners, LLC Agrees to Acquire a Majority Stake in Alliance Laundry Systems from Ontario Teachers'" (Press release). Alliance Laundry Systems. Archived from the original on 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2016-05-14. Alliance Laundry Systems announced today that BDT Capital Partners, LLC, through its investment funds, has agreed to acquire a majority interest in the company from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. The Plan is expected to retain a minority interest in the Company following the completion of the transaction.
  2. ^ a b c Or, Amy (21 October 2014). "Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to Buy 30% Stake in CSC ServiceWorks - WSJ". WSJ. Archived from the original on 6 July 2024. Ontario Teachers' is a seasoned investor in the laundry business, having already owned Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC. The fund bought Ripon, Wis.-based Alliance from Bain Capital for $450 million in 2005 and still owns the washer and dryer manufacturer. CSC is an Alliance customer, said Robert Warden, a partner at Pamplona.
  3. ^ a b [1] 2014 Annual Report - Alliance Laundry Services at the Wayback Machine (archived 2015-04-13). Alliance Laundry Systems 2014 Annual Report.
  4. ^ Asian Hotel & Catering Times. Vol. 30. 2005. pp. 53–.
  5. ^ Tax Notes International. Vol. 30. Tax Analysts. 2003. pp. 9–. The U.S. -based manufacturer of Speed Queen laundry machines, Alliance Laundry Systems LLC, has a 38 percent share of all relevant laundry equipment markets, and makes a mouthwatering 16 percent operating income margin.
  6. ^ Teaming for Efficiency: Energy and environmental policy. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. 2002. pp. 9–311–.
  7. ^ Efraim Turban (2006). Electronic commerce 2006: a managerial perspective. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-185461-1.
  8. ^ Hoover's Business Press (2010). Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies. Hoover's Business Press. pp. 35–. ISBN 9781573111379.
  9. ^ "Our story". Alliance Laundry Systems (Press release). Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  10. ^ "The Speed Queen Story - The History and The Present". Speed Queen. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  11. ^ David Sakrison; Harry Heileman (2000). A portrait of Ripon: historic photographs of Ripon, Wisconsin. Ripon Main Street, Inc. pp. 113–.
  12. ^ Raytheon in $358 million Deal to Sell Laundry Business. New York Times, February 24, 1998
  13. ^ HotelBusiness. Vol. 7. ICD Publications. 1998. pp. 35–. Alliance Laundry Completes Raytheon Buy For $358M
  14. ^ Gary Hoover (1999). Hoover's Handbook of American Business. Reference Press, Incorporated. pp. 1188–. ISBN 9781573110457.
  15. ^ Executive Housekeeping Today. Vol. 18–19. National Executive Housekeepers Association. 1998. pp. 37–.
  16. ^ Hoover's (1 October 2005). Hoover's Masterlist of Major US Companies, A-Z. Hoovers Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-57311-107-2.
  17. ^ [2]. "Ontario Teachers' to purchase Alliance Laundry Systems LLC". BusinessWire, December 8, 2004
  18. ^ [3] Archived 2015-04-07 at the Wayback Machine. Alliance Laundry Systems University page at Alliance Laundry website
  19. ^ "Giving laundries greater flexibility with control". laundryandcleaningnews.com.
  20. ^ "Wasmachinegroep Primus overgenomen door Alliance Laundry". 11 February 2014.
  21. ^ [4]. "Ontario Teachers’ Said to Plan Sale or IPO of Alliance Laundry". BloombergBusiness, April 6, 2015
  22. ^ Scott Deveau and Leslie Picker, Bloomberg News (6 April 2015). "Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said to seek sale or IPO of $2-billion company Alliance Laundry". Financial Post.