Illinois-based Focus Products Group LLC has completed its acquisition of Back to Basics, a Bluffdale-based kitchenware manufacturer.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Back to Basics will combine with Focus Products Group's West Bend Housewares division, located in West Bend, Wis. The combined companies will be called Focus Electrics Group.
Randy Hales, former chief executive of Back to Basics, was named the new chief executive of Focus Electrics Group. Mike Carpenter, the former CEO of West Bend Housewares, was named as the new company's president.
Hales said some Utah jobs will be lost, mainly in the legal and human resources divisions, but did not give a number. The positions will be consolidated with the parent company in Illinois.
Back to Basics employs about 90 people at its corporate office in Bluffdale and at a distribution center in Salt Lake City.
"Other than that there will be very little change here in Salt Lake City," Hales said. "In fact, we'll pick up two responsibilities in product development and product management marketing."
Carpenter said there would be no changes at West Bend Housewares, which employs about 60 people in Wisconsin.
Hales said the Back to Basics and West Bend brand names will continue.
"There is very little crossover in product assortment," Hales said. "West Bend is very strong in what we would call cooking — slow cookers and coffee. Back to Basics, on the other hand, is very strong in motor-driven products — blenders and food processors."
E-mail: danderton@desnews.com