Vancouver-based heater company Cadet Manufacturing is being sold to the Dublin, Ireland-based Glen Dimplex Group.
Cadet founder Dick Anderson announced the decision late Wednesday morning during an all-employee meeting at the company’s facility at the Port of Vancouver. The sale is expected to be finalized this fall.
Anderson told employees the company will stay in Vancouver and keep its name. No jobs will be moved or cut. In fact, Cadet may hire more people as it starts manufacturing more products to be sold in the United States. “Many of (Glen Dimplex’s) products are compatible to what we do,” Anderson said in an interview with The Columbian. “Cadet will be a major asset that gives them the ability to bring their products to the U.S. market.”
The value of the sale wasn’t made public.
Anderson started the company with a partner 59 years ago. He said several other organizations made inquires about purchasing Cadet, but he chose Glen Dimplex because of their hands-off approach and focus on good relationships with its employees.
“I had several considerations,” he said. “Not in any particular order, but what was best for my family, what was best for my employees, what was best for the industry and what was best for the customers.”
Cadet will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Glen Dimplex and will continue to be operated by its current management team. As part of the sale Anderson will step down from his role as chairman and CEO and take on a consulting role. The company’s current president, Hutch Johnson, who has been with the company since 1998, will become CEO.
“They want Americans running American companies,” Anderson said.
For Glen Dimplex, the purchase creates an inroad into the U.S. heating market. However, it remains to be determined if Cadet products will be sold in other countries or if products from other Glen Dimplex-owned companies will be sold through Cadet.
Cadet employs about 110 people and leases close to 80,000 square feet of warehouse, manufacturing and office space. It first moved to the port in 2006. In February, Cadet extended its lease at the Port of Vancouver through 2020. The company was founded in the Northwest in 1957.
Glen Dimplex is an international industrial group with business and manufacturing bases in Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe, Australasia, Asia and now North America. It is a private, family-operated company that was founded in 1972. It owns more than 30 companies with roughly 10,000 employees.
“We are proud to welcome Cadet to the Glen Dimplex family,” Glen Dimplex CEO Fergal Naughton said in a news release. “As a group we are focused on putting our employees and customers first, and this emphasis will continue for Cadet.”
