Sheaffer Now Owned By Newell Rubbermaid?

[Harlequin]

I saw a curious thing in the wikipedia entry for Sheaffer a little while ago (spurred on by part of a post here on FPN that mentioned it). Someone has edited the wikipedia article on Sheaffer to include this bit:

 

 

The brand was a subsidiary of French company Bic, until February 1st, 2013. On February 1st, 2013, the formerly French-owned, American-based pen brand, the Sheaffer Pen Company, was bought by the American company Newell Rubbermaid. The Sheaffer Company only has one service facility remaining at Fort Madison, but on February 3rd, 2013, the American company (who are the owners of the Sheaffer Pen Company) announced they would be reopening all of the currently shuttered pen factories that were owned and or operated by the American pen brand, along with opening more facilities that the Sheaffer Pen Company didn't have.

Of course, the Sheaffer website itself is still branded Bic, and likewise the NR website (and wiki entry) have no mention of sheaffer. Big shocker here- I've actually been able to find absolutely nothing outside of that wikipedia article (which seems to have been edited back in April and remained fairly consistent with this new info since). The new info at wikipedia seems just a little... too positive, if you ask me.

 

So, since everyone knows wikipedia is SO trustworthy, has anyone else heard anything about this?

[iamchum]

que paso?

 

As far as I was aware newell rubbermaid only had the distribution rights to watermans, parker and new rotring, all acquired through sanford.

hmmm.... Is this a new development?? I dont know if i would be totally surprised, newell rubbermaid has made a conscious decision to actively try to acquire many stationary and writing instrument manufacturers of late.

[The Pensmith]

It is entirely possible given that Sheaffer has recently restructured a number of its offices, worldwide. The rumour in Australia is that Bic will no longer be physically distributing Sheaffer from here but, will retain an Australian "Sheaffer" head office. Perhaps, someone should ask Sheaffer!

[Harlequin]

Well, judging from the entire lack of news about it and the fact that the wikipedia article was only edited to include this info in April, it may be that it hasn't gotten out yet. Of course, it may also be that it is completely false. But the date given in the edit for NR's purchase of Sheaffer from Bic is Feb 3rd of this year. If it is true, it wouldn't surprise me if it takes up to or more than a year to actually happen.

 

I'm still very skeptical of it actually being true though.

 

Incidentally, someone can definitely correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I was under the impression that NW owned Waterman, Parker, Papermate, etc lock, stock, and barrel- not just distribution rights?

 

It is entirely possible given that Sheaffer has recently restructured a number of its offices, worldwide. The rumour in Australia is that Bic will no longer be physically distributing Sheaffer from here but, will retain an Australian "Sheaffer" head office. Perhaps, someone should ask Sheaffer!

 

Yeah. only problem is that if it IS true, I am betting they are not allowed to comment on it. Of course, they probably don't comment on stuff like this either way, so you end up getting the same answer. I wonder if the NR world headquarters in Atlanta would address it though, or if the corporate structure is more that each division conducts it's own business under it's own brand kind of thing...

[The Pensmith]

It is correct that Newell Rubbermaid own all of those brands, lock, stock and barrel.

[georges zaslavsky]

I would like to hear a sheaffer rep confirm me this

[Ernst Bitterman]

I saw that entry on Wikipedia as well, and what we must remember is that Wikipedia is a user-edited source. I suspect someone got Sheaffer and Parker confused and thought they were doing a good thing. As Harlequin did, I had a gander at N-R's site, where one finds never a mention of Sheaffer. Neither does Bic's, in fact, but they don't mention other brands on the home site so that's non-definitive. The Sheaffer site indicates Bic ownership in tiny letters at the bottom of the entry screen, and while it also has a 2012 copyright date beside it, I can't see N-R letting someone else's imprint stand for a minute on something they'd gobbled up.

 

But I agree that it would be nice to hear a firm word from one in direct contact with Sheaffer.

[twdpens]

There's been nothing in the trade about this and, as others have pointed out, no press releases or other info on NR's website (which is quite comprehensive). Additionally, this doesn't make sense:

 

the ... company ... announced they would be reopening all of the currently shuttered pen factories that were owned and or operated by the American pen brand, along with opening more facilities that the Sheaffer Pen Company didn't have.

 

NR has factories in France (where all the premium pens are made), China (lower end stuff) and presumably factories or joint ventures in other parts of the world. It closed it's factory and service centre in the UK (at Newhaven) a couple of years ago. It wouldn't make economic sense to re-open an old facility and even less sense to create further manufacturing facilities.

 

But, then again, the management of NR couldn't market their way out of a paper bag so who knows what's going on?

 

Martin

[mhosea]

Simplest explanation: somebody was the victim of an April Fools joke.

[OcalaFlGuy]

 

 

But, then again, the management of NR couldn't market their way out of a paper bag so who knows what's going on?

 

Martin

 

Amen.

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

[Harlequin]

Simplest explanation: somebody was the victim of an April Fools joke.

 

I'd considered that, which is why I checked the revisions history on wikipedia. The changes were indeed removed at first, a couple of times I think (I'd have to double check to be sure), but then they were left in after a bit. So I can only assume that others thought it was a joke too and then found reason enough to leave it in. I'm going to try an experiment and see what happens...

[mhosea]

If they found "reason", they neglected to cite it.

[RLTodd]

I would think if there was truth to it, Pendemonium of Ft. Madison, would have announcements plastered all over the place.

 

I can't find anything on their site.

 

From memory: Besides, I thought they attended the auction where the last of the Ft. Madison production equipment was sold off.

[vannesspen]

Sheaffer - not connected to NR or Parker/Waterman. Separate everything. We carry all these brands- and Parker/ Waterman are NR. Kenro handles Sheaffer.

[DrPJM1]

This weekend was the 100th Anniversary of Sheaffer. It is still owned by BIC.

[pengoddess]

I was going to send the wiki link to BIC legal, but everything looks in order on wiki now, so no need to get BIC legal all excited!

 

Sam

[Harlequin]

Yeah, I edited that wiki entry. I was wondering if whoever edited it initially would return to replace my change my correction back to the NR buying Sheaffer stuff, but it seems they haven't.

[Runnin_Ute]

If Newell Rubbermaid is a publicly traded company (no idea if they are or not) they would be required by the SEC to file I believe it is an 8Q if memory serves me of the form correctly- an acquisition such as this would be a material item affecting the financial statements and it would also be required to be disclosed by Bic as well. Only pen related news I could find about Bic is the following:

 

Monday, 6 May 2013 02:18am EDT

Societe B I C SA announced that BIC Group and Cello Group have jointly filed an agreement with the Bombay High Court to allow BIC Group to acquire the remaining 40% of the last (7th) stationery entity of Cello Group. The Court after reviewing the filling has rendered the agreement enforceable. The agreement provides for closing before the end of 2013 based on the original term and conditions. BIC Group has a call option to increase its ownership in Cello Pens from 40% to 55% by October 2013. Financial terms were not disclosed.