LEESBURG – A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Tuesday, June 6 to celebrate the transfer and completion of PartyLite manufacturing operations from Batavia, Ill. to Leesburg as part of last May’s merger between PartyLite and Candle-lite Companies, creating Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance, based in Cincinnati.
In the past 12 months, Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance has invested greatly in capital resources on the Leesburg facility. Full-time employment has increased 26 percent versus last year for the same time period.
Leesburg Luminex expansion includes:
• PartyLite manufacturing floor added 92,000 square feet to the existing footprint, including 38 work centers for manufacturing and packaging.
• PartyLite and Candle-lite Laboratory and Analytical area enlarged 4.5 times.
“Candle-lite Company has been primarily a North American retail focused business while PartyLite¹s largest market is in Europe,” said Calvin Johnston, Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance CEO.
“Going forward, we will be able to leverage our infrastructure to expand both businesses into new markets. Through the integration of the companies, we can redeploy capital and operating budgets into product development, operational efficiencies and people to help us grow.”
“Our teams are excited by the opportunities and growth potential the combination of these two great companies offers,” Johnston said. “This structure will allow us to serve our existing customers and consultants better, and provide a platform for growth by entering new product categories and markets over the coming years.”
• Candle-lite Company, founded in Cincinnati in 1840, is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of candles and home fragrance products for the mass merchant, food, and drug retail outlets in the United States. Its customers include Wal-Mart and Kroger. Candle-lite offers consumers a wide selection of products under its Candle-lite Co., Essential Elements, Revere House, and Royale Classics brands.
• PartyLite, founded more than 40 years ago, is a global home décor and fragrance party planning company. As a designer and manufacturer, Plymouth, Mass.-based PartyLite, offers an extensive portfolio of premium candles, flameless products, and home décor accessories through its network of 45,000 sales consultants operating in 21 countries.
• Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance combines two global candle and home fragrance companies: Candle-lite Company and PartyLite. The two companies operate as wholly-owned subsidiaries of Luminex HD&F and establish the foundation to create a leading global omni-channel home décor & fragrance company.
Luminex leverages both companies’ R&D and product development efforts and establishes broad consumer reach. Luminex Home Décor & Fragrance Company is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has more than 1,200 employees operating out of 12 offices worldwide. www.candle-lite.com
www.partylite.com.
• The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with $178 billion of assets under management across 125 funds as of March 31, 2016. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions.
• Centre Lane Partners is a private investment firm focused on making equity and debt, control and non-control, investments in North American middle market companies. Centre Lane targets companies with revenues between $20 million and $500 million that have leading market positions and sustainable competitive advantages in their respective niches. Industries targeted for investment are broad and diverse with no industry excluded from consideration.
From The Highland County Press | June 6, 2017
