VERGENNES/WAUKESHA, Wis. — A Wisconsin company that makes power generation equipment and other engine-powered products announced today that it had bought home and garden equipment manufacturer Country Home Products, which is based in Vergennes.
Generac Holdings Inc. acquired Country Home Products Inc. and its subsidiaries effective Aug. 1. The value of the transaction was not announced, but the company said it would make that number known during a quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday.
Founded in 1985, Country Home Products designs and manufactures 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 over 200 people across its headquarters and in Charlotte and Winooski.
“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 Generac President and CEO Aaron Jagdfeld, in a press release. “This acquisition dramatically expands our chore-related products line-up 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.”
Country Home Products President Joe Perrotto also trumpeted the sale of his company in the press release.
“This is a very exciting transaction for Country Home Products,” Perrotto said in the release. “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.”
Country Home Products’ management team 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.
Since 1959 Generac has been designed and manufactured a wide range of power generation equipment and other engine powered products. As a leader in power equipment serving residential, light commercial, industrial, oil & gas, and construction markets, Generac’s power products are available globally through a broad network of independent dealers, distributors, retailers, wholesalers and equipment rental companies, as well as sold direct to certain end user customers.
Country Home Products’ product line of engine-powered tools include field & brush mowers, chippers & shredders, trimmers, leaf vacuums, stump grinders, log splitters and battery-powered lawn mowers.  CHP in 2012 spun out its solar hot water systems unit as a standalone company called Sunward Systems LLC.