STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 2 July 2013

[antigop]

26. ok, this really upsets me

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/01/steinway-accepts-438m-buyout-from-kohlberg--co/2479355/

The famed piano maker Steinway is hoping that the sale of the company to private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. will strike the right chord.

Steinway Musical Instruments, which has been in business for 160 years, said Monday that it has agreed to be bought by Kohlberg for about $438 million.

Steinway pianos have been a status symbol and a must-have luxury in concert halls for more than a century, but the storied company suffered during the recession. While it has recovered, its shares have not returned to their peak, reached just six months before the recession began.

As a (very) amateur musician who loves piano music, this really upsets me. Wanna bet they move production outside the US to save money? Steinway is a quality product. The Van Cliburn competition uses Steinways and music schools like to have them in their studios.

Wanna bet they close the New York factory?

http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Step-Inside-The-Factory-Where-Steinway-Sons-4640570.php

Steinway Musical Instruments is about to be taken private in a $438 million deal with an affiliate of Kohlberg & Company, a private equity investment firm.

Last year we toured the Steinway & Sons factory in Astoria. The company is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments with two factories: one in New York, the other in Hamburg.

Steinway prides itself on having retained manufacturing jobs in the U.S. since all its Grand pianos are made here.

It does however manufacture and market its two lower end Boston and Essex pianos in Asia