Rosemont-based portfolio company Culligan, known for its "Hey, Culligan man!" ads of yore, is becoming a global behemoth in filtered drinking water after buying Britain's Waterlogic.
Alamy
Byron Trott’s BDT Capital Partners is acquiring a local company whose name is familiar to generations of Chicagoans through a memorable, long-running ad campaign.
The private-equity owners of Rosemont-based Culligan International, maker and distributor of drinking water and filtration systems to homes and businesses whose television ads going back decades ingrained the tagline, “Hey, Culligan man!” into the brains of locals are selling to Trott’s Chicago-based firm. Terms weren’t disclosed today in a statement, but the deal values Culligan at about $6 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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The purchase is one of the largest to date for BDT, which manages $18 billion in assets and invests in closely held companies, often owned for generations by the same family. Other prominent holdings include Peet’s Coffee, Panera Bread, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and Ripon, Wis.-based commercial laundry-equipment maker Alliance Laundry Systems.