Sunbeam Says It’s Done Restructuring, Ready for a Deal

Declaring the yearlong restructuring of Sunbeam Corp. complete, Chairman Al Dunlap on Thursday opened the door to deal makers, saying he is interested in selling, merging or buying big early next year.

The home-appliance maker hired Morgan Stanley Group Inc. as its investment banker, and Dunlap said he will consider “any and all types of transactions.”

Dunlap, who earned the nickname “Chainsaw Al” by making deep cuts at other companies, put Sunbeam in play a day after issuing a quarterly report reflecting strong sales boosted by new products and distribution lines.

“It’s only natural when you have that type of performance that you look at all the next opportunities,” Dunlap said. “Obviously, we’ve completed the restructuring. We’re clearly demonstrating that we’re growing the company significantly beyond the restructuring.”

Dunlap slashed half of the company’s 12,000 jobs last November and unloaded 87% of a 5,000-item product lineup to focus on the Sunbeam and Oster lines.

“If you look at turnarounds and you look at how long they normally take and how they normally function, everything he said was absurd--except he’s done it,” said analyst Arnold Brief of Southeast Research Partners. “After a while, you’ve got to be a believer.”

Because of Dunlap’s track record, a major company shift had been expected since the day he walked in the door 15 months ago.

“Dunlap is only formalizing a course that most people that are close to this story believed would happen anyway,” said Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Scott Graham. “The only surprise would be that it’s probably happening sooner than most expected.”

Without guessing at Sunbeam’s likely future, Graham said he would expect European companies to be interested as potential buyers because of Sunbeam’s strong brands and U.S. distribution network.

But Goldman Sachs analyst Elisabeth Fontenelli is betting that Dunlap’s self-described “quantum leap” transaction hinted on Wednesday with the release of the company’s third-quarter results will be an acquisition.

For the short term, Dunlap said he was “very bullish” after the biggest September in company history and a batch of product roll-outs for the holiday season, including a soft-serve ice cream maker, a deep fryer and redesigned blender.

Just before landing at Sunbeam, Dunlap turned the stodgy, undervalued Scott Paper Co. into a profitable plum that was swallowed by Kimberly-Clark Corp.

He did the same earlier at Lily-Tulip Inc., a paper-cup maker that went on to merge with Fort Howard Paper Co., and at Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd., an Australian television and magazine empire.

Delray, Fla.-based Sunbeam’s stock fell 88 cents to close at $47.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.