Maytag-Hoover Vacuum Merger

Maytag Corp., the home appliance company that boasts its products never need repairs, said today that the board of Chicago Pacific Corp., which makes Hoover vacuum cleaners, has agreed to a merger for cash and stock worth around $1 billion.

The merger, creating a company with more than $3 billion in sales, will give Maytag, whose operations are almost exclusively domestic, a strategic foothold in Europe. Chicago Pacific has subsidiaries and facilities in West Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other European countries.