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INDUSTRY NEWS 10 OCTOBER 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com HOT NEWS Generac acquires Country Home Products Generac Holdings Inc. ("Generac"), a designer and manufacturer of power generation equipment and other engine-powered products, announced the acquisition of Country Home Products, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "Country Home Products"), effective Aug. 1, 2015. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Vergennes, Vt., Country Home Products is a manufacturer of high-quality, innovative, professional-grade, engine-powered equipment used in a wide variety of property maintenance applications. Primarily sold in North America under the DR and Neuton brand names, Country Home Products employs more than 200 people across its headquarters and two other facilities located in Vermont. "Acquiring Country Home Products is a great strategic fit for Generac's business and is perfectly aligned with our Powering Ahead strategic objective of diversifying our end markets with new products and services," said Aaron Jagdfeld, president and CEO of Generac. "This acquisition dramatically expands our chore-related products lineup and will provide additional scale to our residential engine- powered tools platform. We believe this transaction should create meaningful cross-selling opportunities with our existing distribution and should also generate certain cost synergies as we leverage our existing global sourcing and manufacturing capabilities." "This is a very exciting transaction for Country Home Products," said Joe Perrotto, president of Country Home Products. "It will open up even larger markets for sales of DR, Neuton and Generac products, both in the U.S. and globally, and will also create meaningful opportunities to improve our product costs and ultimately the value we bring to our customers. We are pleased to join the Generac family and look forward to our continued success as we work together to drive growth and bring exceptional products, service and value to the markets we serve." The management team of Country Home Products will continue to lead the business going forward, and the DR and Neuton brand names will join Generac's family of brands in serving a broad, global customer base. The purchase price and other terms of the acquisition were not announced. Redexim buys BLEC Redexim bv, the parent company of Redexim North America, has reached an agreement to purchase the assets of BLEC Global Ltd of the United Kingdom. The deal includes the purchase of the BLEC name and means that the products will continue to be traded around the world by Redexim under the name of BLEC. Redexim will now be responsible for the full manu- facturing and distribution of the current range of more than 80 different BLEC machines throughout the world, including the United States and Canada. Discussions are underway to set up dealer arrangements in the coun- tries within which BLEC operates, and announcements about this will be made in due course. BLEC, founded in 1986, has developed a good repu- tation around the world for developing new, innovative machinery that is well engineered and built for long life and reliability. The company offers a wide range of spe- cialized landscaping and turfcare machinery, both walk- behind and tractor-mounted models, to suit a varied range of requirements. BLEC products have been used by superintendents, sports turf managers, sod farms, and contractors around the world. Redexim is internationally known for its development of innovative turf management products for the golf, sports field and landscape markets. For more informa- tion, visit www.Redexim.com. Power Distributors acquires assets of Magneto Power Power Distributors, a Columbus, Ohio-based provider of sales, mar- keting and distribution solutions for the OPE industry, announced August 3 that it has acquired the assets of Magneto Power, LLC. The combined company will have more than 230 employees serving more than 16,500 lawn and garden dealers and major retailers. "We are excited to announce the addition of Magneto Power to our company as we continue to expand our national footprint," said Matthew Finn, president of Power Distributors. "The addition of the three Magneto Power distribution centers and sales territory expands our presence west and provides us with an attractive platform for providing national solutions for our partners. As we move forward in 2015, we continue to see outstanding opportunities, and we are well situated to further execute on our growth strategy." Established in 2014, Power Distributors was formed from the combination of leading regional OPE distribution companies Atlantic Power, Central Power Systems, Preferred Power and SEDCO. Power Distributors supports customers in 26 states from five distribution cen- ters. Power Distributors provides state-of-the-art distribution and fulfill- ment, dedicated field sales, customer service and technical support for many of the OPE industry's biggest and best-known brands. For more information about Power Distributors, visit www.powerdistributors.com. Magneto Power is a regional wholesale distributor of outdoor power equipment and replacement parts. It serves customers in 11 states from three distribution centers located in Minnesota, Texas and Oregon.