Today (Sept. 5, 2012), I read an interesting article about Sealed Air Corporation (stock ticker:  SEE) and how the acquisition of cleaning products manufacturer DIVERSEY last year is making the company a possible acquisition target.  The article questions the value of the Diversey acquisition, and goes on to suggest that the erosion in Sealed Air’s stock price has made the company a takeover target.

We comment on this because Diversey (formerly Johnson-Diversey) is still the largest manufacturer of commercial cleaning chemicals in the U.S. market and has a big impact in the industrial and institutional cleaning products market.  Equally important, following the decade long trials and tribulations of this venerable company provides other companies with valuable market intelligence.

For manufacturers like Multi-Clean, we use this information to develop effective market strategies to differentiate ourselves from larger competitors.  For distributors, the world of jan-san distribution continues to be disrupted by manufacturing companies seeking to reach the end user through alternative distributors that are clueless about cleaning.  Have you seen cleaning chemicals offered by companies that supply office paper?  How about companies selling packaging or industrial supplies?  How about Amazon?  Try Costco, Home Depot, Grainger, Sam’s Club, etc.

At Multi-Clean, we believe that distributors that specialize in cleaning products can deliver products just as efficiently as other companies.  The differentiator has to boil down to knowledge and expertise.  If you’re a distributor, hopefully you align yourself with a vendor that understands the way to success is to work with distributors to show the user of cleaning products how to clean better, faster, and safer.  If you do, profits are sure to follow.

Read the article from Bloomberg News:  By Tara Lachapelle and Will Robinson published on September 05, 2012

Sealed Air Seen as Takeover Target After Fumbling Deal: Real M & A