EBONITE INTERNATIONAL, INC. ACQUIRES COLUMBIA INDUSTRIES

Tuesday, 02/06/2007

 

Company Continues to Build Collection of Bowling’s Best Brands

HOPKINSVILLE, Kent. – Ebonite International, Inc. has entered into an agreement for an asset purchase of Columbia Industries, including the Columbia, Track and Dyno-Thane® brands of bowling equipment, announced William T. Scheid, president of Ebonite. Terms were not disclosed.

“Our goal is to build a portfolio of the best brands in the bowling business to provide distributors, pro shops and ultimately consumers with the products that fit their needs,” said Scheid. “These brands, particularly Columbia and Track, have tremendous equity over a long period of time. We are very pleased to bring them into the Ebonite International family.”

Effective immediately, all sales of Columbia, Track and Dyno-Thane bowling balls, bags and accessories will be the responsibility of Ebonite International. Manufacturing of bowling balls for these brands, currently being done at the company’s manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, will be moved to Ebonite International’s Hopkinsville, Kent. facility at some point in the near future.

“As our business has become increasingly competitive with a shrinking market of league bowlers, consolidation became inevitable. We considered a variety of options and felt like the acquisition by Ebonite International provided the best opportunity to maintain the viability of our brands,” said David Herrmann, vice chairman of Columbia Industries.

Columbia, Track and Dyno-Thane join Ebonite’s International’s existing consumer brands: Ebonite, Hammer and Robby’s. In addition, Ebonite International is the parent company of Ebonite VanTech Capital Equipment and Vantage Bowling, which serve the commercial side of the bowling business.

“We still have many details to work out but are confident that we will successfully integrate the Columbia Industries products into our company. We did this with the acquisition of the Hammer brand in 2002 and look forward to doing so again,” added Scheid.

Based in Hopkinsville, Kent., Ebonite International is a privately-owned company that currently services bowling centers, distributors and retail outlets both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit www.ebonite.com.