Rayovac, mostly known for their battery products, was established in 1906 under the name French Dry Battery Company. In 1921, the company changed names to Rayovac and became one of the best known battery brands in the United States (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Unfortunately, by 1996, Duracell, Energizer, and Panasonic had taken over the battery market. Because of this, the company was acquired by Thomas H. Lee Partners (THL) (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Their intent was to expand market share through acquisitions, and they did just that. In 2000, the company was considered to be in the number three position of the United States battery market behind Duracell and Energizer. Their strategy was to market a battery just as good as the competitor’s, …show more content…
In addition, they were also the leader in rechargeable batteries in the Americas (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Even though Rayovac was the leader in the aforementioned products, THL knew they could improve upon their position in the world-wide market. When THL took over Rayovac, their initial intent was to diversify. In 2003, Rayovac acquired Remington, the shave product company (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). At the time, Remington was the number two company behind Norelco (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Remington was established in 1816, and was one of the oldest brands in the United States. Remington was a low cost producer, and the newly acquired Varta distribution network gave Rayovac the ability to expand into Europe (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Another 2003 acquisition, United Industries, provided significant potential in both the lawn care industry as well as the pet supply industry (Barney & Hesterly, 2015). Both industries show a favorable amount of growth with more people getting pets and treating them as family members, as well as a large portion of the population getting older and taking up gardening (Barney & Hesterly,