New buyer found after last deal was dashed
By Alan Wolf, YSN
Hopefully the second time will be the charm for Electrolux and its idle cooking appliance factory in Memphis, Tenn.
The Swedish appliance giant said a U.S.-based investment company has agreed to purchase the plant for $61 million, after a previous $82.5 million deal with an unnamed buyer fell through last spring. The latest agreement, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter following due diligence, will “positively impact” the operating income of Electrolux’s North America division, the manufacturer said.
The sprawling 750,000-square-foot facility was built in 2013 at a cost of $266 million, offset by some $137 million in state and local incentives. After production was shifted from Canada, the plant pumped out ranges, wall ovens and other cooking products until the decline of Sears’ appliance business and higher steel tariffs prompted its planned closure in 2020. The pandemic provided a temporary reprieve as consumer demand and supply-chain constraints kept appliances in short supply, and the factory was finally shuttered in June 2022.
Cooking production has since been consolidated into Electrolux’s sprawling Springfield, Tenn., complex near Nashville, which has been expanded and updated with $250 million in capital improvements.
The sale of the Memphis plant is now part of Electrolux’s plan to divest some $900 million in non-strategic assets, including production facilities in Egypt and South Africa and its offshore Zanussi brand, the company said.
