Off to the races: Brandt talks Grigg Bros. acquisition

It was announced today that Springfield, Ill.-based Brandt, a family-owned, U.S.-based agricultural company with locations around the world, acquired Grigg Bros., a golf and sports turf fertilizer company founded in 1995 by Mark and Gary Grigg.

Karl Barnhart, chief marketing officer for Brandt, noted that the acquisition is not yet finalized. In the meantime and in the foreseeable future, he says Grigg Bros. customers can expect business as usual.

“The closing will probably happen in mid-January. But if you know Brandt, you know we tend to let businesses go on as normal if business is going well. So this is going to be a ‘business as usual’ acquisition,” Barnhart says. “What this also means is that Grigg Bros. customers will have access to Brandt products. (But) Grigg will be a wholly owned subsidiary. We’re going to run it as two separate brands.”

Barnhart noted that a year ago, Brandt acquired a Fresno, Calif.-based company with 80 employees. “I’m quite proud that we didn’t lose a single employee,” he said.

For this year’s Golf Industry Show, expect a Grigg Bros. booth that has a Brandt presence, including Brandt’s No. 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car (pictured).

Barnhart says with the acquisition of Grigg Bros., Brandt can now look to making a successful move into the turf industry.

“We’ve been in the turf business, but never to the scale we needed to succeed,” Barnhart says. “Grigg has great products, great distribution and the two guys leading the way in Gary and Mark… We’ve admired them, and we’ve run up against them, for a while now. When Mark and Gary were looking at the next phase of Grigg Bros., we’re lucky they looked to us.”

Look for more on this story here and in the next issue of Golfdom.