Hoover, Dirt Devil up for sale

TTI Floor Care North America, Inc., which owns the Hoover and Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner brands, has put itself up for sale, officials said. The firm, a subsidiary of Hong Kong's Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to advise it on a potential sale, sources told the The Wall Street Journal. The company was reportedly seeking up to $900 million, and the deal also includes Techtronic's Vax floor-care brand based in the United Kingdom, people familiar with the sale told the Journal. The brands up for sale generate about $100 million in annual sales before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The companies will probably be sold to a private-equity buyer, the report said. Hoover is an iconic name in the vacuum cleaner business, whose history dates to 1907. Techtronic was founded in 1985 and owns a variety of businesses manufacturing such products as power tools, saws and solar-powered lighting. Techtronic reportedly purchased the floor-care business from from-appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. in 2007 for about $107 million.