NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chief executive of Brunswick Corp. (BC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday that the recreational boatmaker plans to significantly ramp up its overseas expansion, particularly in Europe, as it waits for its U.S. business to come back.
But Dusty McCoy, who has overseen an aggressive series of acquisitions at Brunswick, said a key part of the European expansion would come through internal growth, rather than deal-making, because purchase prices on the Continent had become too dear.
Speaking at the Reuters Manufacturing and Transportation Summit in New York, McCoy said Brunswick, which currently sells about 25 percent of its boats and engines overseas and derives more than a third of its total revenue abroad, hopes to see those numbers increase "significantly."
"We want to be a global player," McCoy said.
"We'll focus on Europe first and move to the rest of the world over time."
McCoy said Brunswick, which already operates engine factories in the United Kingdom and boat manufacturing facilities in Portugal and Sweden, is now the largest boat maker on the Continent "unit-wise." But he said he hoped to become even bigger by "migrating the company's manufacturing footprint outside the United States."
He said Brunswick was particularly interested in offering "large yachts that fit the Mediterranean boating style."
"We don't have a product lineup that would be competitive there," he said. "That's a market over time that's attractive to us."
But snapping up an existing boatmaker serving the market -- something Brunswick has done frequently in the past -- isn't in the cards for now. "Acquisitions in Europe are priced much too high on a multiple basis," he said. "So we are looking for organic growth." Continued...
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