The Empire Group, the parent company of Empire Comfort Systems (Belleville, Illinois), has purchased majority ownership of SBI, a Canadian manufacturer of wood- and pelletfired heater/hearth products, along with venting. Empire manufactures gas-fired heaters, hearth products, and grills. Both Empire and SBI are family-owned manufacturers, and both have undertaken aggressive product-development programs.

While SBI’s primary market is Canada, it also distributes products in the United States, South America, Europe, and Australia. Its brands include Osburn, Caddy, Enerzone, Valcourt, Drolet, and Century Heating. Empire’s brands include American Hearth, White Mountain Hearth, Broilmaster Premium Grills, and Empire Heating Systems.

Nick Bauer, president of Empire, says, “I have had two passions in my life; the first is family business—not just my family business, but doing business with other family-owned companies. The second is U.S.–based manufacturing, instilled in me by my great-grandfather, who immigrated from Germany and founded Empire in 1932.”

Bauer found kindred spirits in brothers Marc-Antoine and Jean-Francois Cantin, SBI’s president and vice president, respectively. “It was not on the radar screen for us to sell our company,” Marc-Antoine says. “We have always been a market consolidator, having bought eight companies over the past 15 years. When I met Nick and realized what the two organizations could accomplish together, it did not take long to convince my brother. This deal will take SBI to the next level, and everybody will win, starting with our employees and our customers.”

Empire shares that enthusiasm. “The Bauer family is ecstatic to find partners who share these same core values,” Bauer says. While the synergy of these venerable manufacturers can open new markets and opportunities for both, the two companies will continue to operate independently, with no immediate effect on employees from either company.