Balboa Water Group has beefed up its whirlpool bath and hot tub portfolio with the recent acquisition of Hydro Air.
Terms of the deal, which was finalized Feb. 27, were not made public.
With operations in North America and Denmark, Hydro Air manufactures various system components for the spa industry, including jet assemblies, drains, valves, suctions and air controls.
“This acquisition fits into our long-range plan of being a single-source provider for the industry,” said Bob Spillar, vice president of marketing at Balboa Water Group in Tustin, Calif. “We’re always looking for best-of-class brands, and Hydro Air is a long-term, well-known brand in the industry.”
Balboa Water Group, which was purchased in 2007 by private-equity firm Quad-C Management, also recently acquired the Spa and Bath business of Pentair Inc. That transaction, terms of which were not disclosed, was finalized in December 2008.
Balboa will transfer Hydro Air’s manufacturing operations from Chihuahua, Mexico, to the firm’s facility in Valencia, Calif.
The company also has retained a number of Hydro Air employees, including a major portion of its U.S.-based work force, according to Spillar.
Insiders characterized the move as overwhelmingly positive for an industry battered by the nation’s distressed housing market. The upsurge in private-equity activity generally signals optimism from beyond the trade, they agreed.
“What it means essentially is that people see this as a good industry,” said Chris Robinson, business manager at Lucite International, a Memphis, Tenn-based manufacturer of acrylic spa shells. “Especially in an economy like this, it’s enormously positive. It also says, to some degree, that there’s good money to be made when we eventually come out of this recession.”
