According to Goodman, it is selling its appliance division in order to focus on its core business of manufacturing hvac-related products. With this in mind, the manufacturer will still retain the Amana air conditioning and heating division, and the sale will not affect its hvac employee base.

“The sale allows us to focus on the hvac business and expand the Goodman brands, including Amana air conditioning,” said John Goodman, chairman of Goodman Holding Company. For Maytag, the purchase allows the company to extend its product selection and offer consumers greater choice in appliances.

“Immediately, we gain significant strengths with the addition of the Amana brand and product lineup,” said Maytag president and ceo Leonard A. Hadley. “First, Amana extends our premium brand strategy in major appliances and provides an important new opportunity in channel and brand management. Second, we gain a premium brand in refrigeration with strong consumer preference. Amana’s core strength and heritage product line is refrigeration, which has historically been our weakest product category. Third, we gain accelerated product design and engineering in major appliances that can save us substantial development work and investment. Plus, we gain cross-sourcing manufacturing opportunities in all product categories.”

Publication date: 06/04/2001