CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One of Northeast Ohio's oldest manufacturers has launched a hostile bid to take over another venerable company in the region.
Akron's A. Schulman, a company founded in 1928, offered $855 million to buy Mayfield Heights' Ferro Corp., a troubled company that dates back to 1919. Plastics additives company Schulman said it thinks it can do a better job of growing the business at specialty materials company Ferro.
"We have tremendous respect for Ferro and its people," A. Schulman Chairman, President and Chief Executive Joe Gingo said in a statement. "However, cash flow is required not only for the restructuring efforts already publicly identified by Ferro, but also for growth, the capacity to be opportunistic in the marketplace, and the ability to create value for shareholders."
Gingo noted that Schulman has generated more than $400 million in cash flow to fund growth in the past five years while Ferro has generated $60 million. Schulman sent a letter to Ferro's board last month, offering to buy the company, but the board rejected the proposal. So Gingo said Schulman is taking its offer directly to Ferro's shareholders.