Britax, the maker of the upper-end car seats, has
been bought out by the Carlyle Group, an equity firm that owns Dr. Pepper among
other brands.


Britax, the maker of the upper-end car seats, has
been bought out by the Carlyle Group, an equity firm that owns Dr. Pepper among
other brands.

The surprise announcement
came Wednesday Sept 7—that is when Britax (a European conglomerate that makes
airplane seats and safety lights among other products) decided to spin off their
child care division. Enter the Carlyle Group, an equity firm that is best known
for their ownership stake in the Dr. Pepper beverage company. Carlyle bought
Britax Child Care for $424 million, a big sum for a company that generates about
$220 in sales world wide. Britax owns about 12% of the US car seat market, but
has a much bigger presence in Europe (40% of both the UK and German markets) and
Australia, where Britax’s market share is
60%.

So what will Carlyle be doing with
Britax? Who knows—the news of this sale took just about everyone by surprise,
including Britax employees. In an odd moment, we noticed Britax head honcho,
Doug Oaks, was AWOL at the industry’s biggest trade show this weekend in Vegas.
Britax staffers said he was in Europe on vacation in the south of
France getting ready for a baby trade show in Germany . . . that starts
in a week. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, in other
news, Britax has lowered its price on the Companion car seat to take aim at Peg
Perego’s infant seat. The Companion first debuted at over $250; now we see it
sold for about $170.

For Britax’s 2006
plans, see the blog category “2006 preview” under car
seats!