Gabelli reports stake in Clopay's parent
Wednesday February 20, 9:10 pm ET
Investor Mario Gabelli and affiliated entities including GAMCO Asset Management Inc. and Gabelli Funds LLC have acquired a 5.3 percent stake, or 1.6 million shares, in Griffon Corp., according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing follows others reports last week by Nuveen Investments affiliate NWQ Investment Management Company LLC that it has increased its stake in Griffon to almost 16 percent, or 4.6 millions shares, and by Goldman Sachs that it has a 5.1 percent stake, or 1.5 million shares.
Griffon is the parent of Mason-based Clopay Corp., a maker of Clopay garage doors and specialty plastic films used in disposable diapers and other products. Procter & Gamble Co. is a major customer of the plastic film business.
Gabelli has stepped up its acquisition of Griffon's shares as its stock price has fallen from more than $12 at the end of 2007 to as low as $9 this week. The company's sales and profits have been hurt by the slump in new housing construction and a simultaneous slowdown in garage door replacement sales.
The company said earlier this month it's continuing to focus on cost reduction programs "including, but not limited to, reductions in force, reducing or eliminating certain sales and marketing programs and consolidating facilities where possible."
Griffon came under pressure from investors last year, before the bottom dropped out of the housing market, to separate its Clopay operations from its defense electronics subsidiary that's based elsewhere. At the time, it hired Goldman Sachs to advise it on strategic alternatives but later said that deteriorating market conditions had limited its options.
Published February 20, 2008 by the Business Courier
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