Frank C. Sullivan
Analyst · Kevin McCarthy representing Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Sure. When you think about RPM and acquisitions, first of all, after really slowing down during the recession, we spent 18 months trying to reconnect and rebuild that pipeline of what's been a critical part of our growth strategy for 30 years. And I think we're just hitting our stride having completed 4 deals, so far this year. Fundamentally, whether it's a product line or a freestanding business, if it's a North American consumer product, it's likely to be part of DAP or Rust-Oleum. High-performance coatings that serve, in particular, steel or concrete markets, flooring markets will be part of our Performance Coatings Group and then obviously, waterproofing, construction, chemicals sealants would be part of our Building Solutions Group. And so those are all of the typical RPM products and markets that you would know. We have a group called RPM II. Mike Teller [ph], who had spent a good part of his career at RPM, he was at Carboline, came up through those ranks, was Executive Vice President there, ran some businesses for them. And then took over leadership at Rust-Oleum when we acquired Rust-Oleum in '94, retired a few years ago. He came back to run our RPM II Group, with the goal of taking a group of kind of hodgepodge businesses that don't fit those other categories in specialty chemicals in kind of a flavors and fragrances and food business and our MBV business, which is the producer of Nature Seal. So Nature Seal is the reason that you can get sliced apples or apple fries at some of the fast food restaurants. That's our product that is patented in conjunction with the USDA. His goal and our goal is to take that very unique kind of specialty chemical collection of businesses to $1 billion in the next so many years. And so, that is where you're likely to see some categories that are in adjacent areas, but not the most obvious fits with what typically would fit with our other businesses. Legend Brands, I think, is a great example of that. They manufacture equipment and provide services and processes, as well as chemicals for cleaning and restoration for smoke, fire and water damage. And pretty excited about that business. In fact, some of their divisions were actually purchasers of certain specialty Zinsser primers that were used in smoke and fire damage. They were also producers and users of carpet and upholstery cleaning chemicals that we're familiar with from our Chem Spec business and -- but they are in the service and equipment manufacturing for aggressive dehumidification and/or restoration in smoke, fire and water damage circumstances. So it is a new category. You should expect to see us in businesses that are similar or adjacent but quite different from the normal fits of consumer rust preventatives or specialty coatings for concrete or steel, and Legend Brands fits that category.