Winnebago Undecided on $321 Million Stock Offer

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Forest City, Iowa-based Winnebago Industries Inc. officials say they haven’t made a decision on whether to accept or reject an offer from a private equity firm to purchase the company because they don’t have enough information. The Associated Press is reporting Winnebago has rejected a $321.5 million offer from North Street Capital, a Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity, hedge fund and mergers and acquisitions... Read more

Equity Firm Makes $321 Million Cash Offer for Winnebago Stock

Winnebago Industries Inc. today (May 18) confirmed that it is in receipt of a letter from North Street Capital LP proposing to acquire all outstanding common shares of Winnebago Industries at a price of $11 per share in cash. The deal would be worth $321 million. Winnebago is the No. 2 motorhome manufacturer with 2011 sales reaching $496 million. Trading had been halted after it surged 17 percent in premarket trading amid a Bloomberg report that North Street Capital had offered to purchase the... Read more

ADA Pool Lift Compliance Date Delayed to Jan. 31, 2013

Park operators will have until Jan. 31, 2013, to comply with changes in accessibility requirements for swimming pools and spas under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Justice Department announced on its website Wednesday (May 16) that it plans to publish a new rule on Monday with the Jan. 31 compliance date, according to a news release. “Thanks to an effective team effort involving private park operators working in collaboration with our counterparts in the hotel industry, the U.S.... Read more

18 Rustic Campgrounds Added to State’s Reservation System

Eighteen of Michigan’s more popular state forest campgrounds are being added to the state campground reservation system this season. That’s a first for the remote and rustic campgrounds that have always operated on a first-come, first-served basis, the Grand Rapids Press reported. “It made sense to allow those sites to be reserved,” said Tim Schreiner, manager of Traverse City State Park and the man appointed within the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to usher the state forest campground... Read more

Grants Will Help Keep Open 13 California Parks

The California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) announced Thursday (May 17) it will award 13 grants totaling $328,586 to organizations that are fighting to keep state parks off the closure list. This one-year commitment is one of several steps the 43-year-old foundation is taking in response to the crisis of park closures across California’s state park system, according to a news release. These grants were made possible by generous funding from the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and the Thomas... Read more

911 Tape of Deerfield Beach RV Park Attack Released

Months after the horrendous RV massacre in Deerfield Beach, Fla., the 911 call made by ruthless killer William DeJesus has been released. For the first time we are hearing the voice of a man known as a “monster” by his own children, CBS Radio, Miami, reported. In February, DeJesus held his wife, two sons Jesiah, 9, and Samson, 7, an elderly woman and her boyfriend hostage inside at a Deerfield Beach RV park. “I’m inside a mobile home and they were going to kill me and my kids because... Read more

Alberta Won’t Close Campground Until August

Campers will be able to pitch their tents and park their RVs at Pigeon Lake in Alberta this summer after all. The province originally planned to close 248 sites at the popular campground for renovations, but business owners in the area complained, saying the closure would have negative affects on their livelihoods, the Calgary Herald reported. All 401 sites at the provincially run Pigeon Lake and Zeiner campgrounds are now open and will stay open until Aug. 7, the province announced Thursday (May... Read more

Town Renames Campground in Memory of Administrator

Melville Campgrounds in Portsmouth, R.I., will soon receive a new name to honor the town’s first administrator. The town council voted 6-0 to change the campgrounds’ name from Melville Campgrounds to the John O. Thayer Melville Campgrounds, EastBayRI.com reported. Former council president Stephen Pappas went before the council May 14 to make the request. Thayer’s son, Mark Thayer, told the council that his father saw acquiring Melville Campgrounds as his greatest achievement. He said the family... Read more

Report: Towable RV Sales Rose 12.3% in March

Retail sales of towable RVs increased 12.3 percent in March over March 2011, Statistical Surveys Inc. (SSI) has reported. The performance puts year-to-date sales ahead of the 2011 pace by 8.9 percent. Travel trailer sales paced the surge, gaining 17.4 percent in March ahead of a year earlier. Year-to-date sales for these products are  up 14.2 percent. Sales for other product segments were as follows: Fifth-wheel sales increased 7.2 percent in March and 3.4 percent for the first quarter. Folding... Read more

RVBusiness Survey: Industry in Recovery? Maybe

Is the RV industry in a more robust recovery mode, based on an array of positive signals from the first quarter of the year? Is the recreational vehicle arena, despite mixed news reports on the national front, on the brink of a strong growth spurt in 2012? Well, you couldn’t prove it by the responses in the latest round of RVB’s All-Industry Survey, administered by RVBusiness magazine and sponsored by Pender, Neb.-based Blue Ox, because they were split right down the middle. In fact, the results... Read more

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