The Manitowoc Company Inc. announced today that it has agreed to sell its marine division to Fincantieri Marine Group Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Trieste, Italy-based Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani SpA, for $120 million.
Lockheed Martin Corp. will be a minority investor with Fincantieri in the proposed acquisition.
The transaction is an all-cash deal that is anticipated to close at the end of this year.
The division, called Manitowoc Marine Group, is a full-service shipbuilding, ship repair, and ship conversion organization that operates facilities in Sturgeon Bay, Marinette and Cleveland, Ohio. The division serves a broad base of commercial, military, and government customers and has about 1,600 employees.
"As our legacy business, Marine led the way in establishing Manitowoc's tradition of integrity, commitment to stakeholders, and passion for excellence -- the values that have driven the success for all three of our segments," said Manitowoc president and chief executive officer Glen E. Tellock. "In addition, this transaction expands the opportunities for MMG (Manitowoc Marine Group) to continue its industry leadership in the future. More importantly, it will allow MMG to become part of a growing, global organization that is exclusively focused on commercial and military shipbuilding."
This transaction will allow Manitowoc to focus its financial assets and managerial resources on the growth of its increasingly global crane and foodservice businesses. It also will allow us to invest the proceeds from the sale to generate additional shareholder value."
The sale is expected to generate a per-share, after-tax gain of approximately 60 cents. The company said it intends to use the after-tax proceeds for general corporate purposes, which includes paying down debt anticipated as a result of the pending acquisition of Enodis.

Industrial employment in Wisconsin dropped 2.1 percent over the past 12 months according to the 2009 Wisconsin Manufacturers Register, a compilation of state industry data published annually by Evanston, Ill.-based Manufacturers' News Inc.
The Register reports that Wisconsin lost 13,276 industrial jobs from June 2007 to June 2008, the heaviest loss MNI has reported for the state over the past several years.
According to earlier MNI reports, Wisconsin saw a 1.5 percent drop in industrial employment between June 2006 and June 2007, and the state saw a 3 percent jump in manufacturing jobs over the previous two years, with a 1.7 percent gain reported in the 2004-2005 period and a 1.4 percent increase posted over the 05-06 survey year.
"Outsourcing, consolidation and automation have taken their toll on manufacturing employment," said Tom Dubin, president of Manufacturers' News. "Ironically, the jobs that remain are so specialized and highly skilled that some manufacturers are having difficulty finding qualified applicants."
Manufacturers' News reports that Wisconsin is now home to 12,439 manufacturers employing 631,313 workers, and ranks 10th in the U.S. for number of manufacturing jobs.
Wisconsin's manufacturing job losses are similar to other Midwestern states. During the last year, Illinois' industrial employment dropped 1.5 percent, Minnesota's is down 1.7 percent, Indiana's is down 2.2 percent and Michigan manufacturing jobs are down 5 percent, according to other reports by MNI.
MNI's city data shows that Milwaukee is Wisconsin's industrial capital with 62,966 of the state's manufacturing jobs, down 2 percent over the past year. MNI reports Milwaukee ranks among the top industrial cities in the US, ranking 15th in the nation for number of manufacturing jobs and 21st for related plants.

Menomonee Falls-based Kohl's Department Stores will open stores in Manitowoc and Burlington in October.
Both of the stores will employ about 130 people, the company said. Kohl's will hold a job fair from Aug. 10-14 at the Holiday Inn in Manitowoc and at Gateway Technical College, 496 McCanna Parkway, in Burlington,  for people interested in working at the new stores. The company is looking for people to work in cash register operation, department service, customer service, early morning stocking, truck unloading, housekeeping and evening signage/pricing updates.
Kohl's has been expanding significantly in recent years across the country and this fall the company plans to open its 1,000 store. The company has about 130,000 employees.

Spectrum Digital Services LLC, a Hartland-based CD recording company, recently completed a 2,000-square-foot expansion, which launched the company into paper printing and conversion. The expansion included the purchase of four-color printing equipment, as well as UV coating, die cutting, folding, gluing, stitching and binding machinery. Read more in this week's edition of BizTimes Manufacturing Weekly.

Blackwolf Run is now 20 years old. The golf course was the first built by the Kohler Co. and put Sheboygan County on the map as a major golf destination. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The water-sharing agreement between the City of Milwaukee and New Berlin will provide safe, healthy water for New Berlin residents and is a major step forward for regional cooperation says New Berlin mayor Jack Chiovatero, author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index fell 0.46 points to close at 141.20 on Friday and local stocks fell hard again this morning as decliners far outnumbered advancers.
The largest local decliners this morning were Bucyrus International Inc. (down $4.37 to $65.27) and Joy Global Inc. (down $2.53 to $69.21). The largest local advancers this morning were Rockwell Automation Inc. (up 26 cents to $44.08) and Strattec Security Corp. (up 14 cents to $33.04). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.