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Turning gardening's green thumb into green dollar bills is what Walker's Michigan Bulb Company does best.
This direct marketing firm, which sells nursery items by mail, forecasts sales in excess of $60 million next year.
Michigan Bulb, 1950 Waldorf St. NW, was acquired last month by a group of Tennessee investors who plan on combining Michigan Bulb's national sales strength with the scientific knowledge of Phyton Technologies Inc., a horticultural company out of Knoxville.
"We're operating as two separate companies, but we're marrying the benefits," said Iain MacFarlane, chief executive officer of the holding company owning both Michigan Bulb and Phyton. "Phyton also has a few ties with horticultural companies in Europe, providing us with additional sources of unique products. We want to bring a more complex level of horticultural technology to the consumers."
Michigan Bulb had been owned by Fingerhut, a subsidiary of Primerica Corp., since 1984. The Greenwich, Conn.-based conglomerate put Michigan Bulb up for sale 15 months ago.
The acquisition of Michigan Bulb and Phyton is being financed by venture capital firms, MacFarlane said.
"I have been involved with the founder of Phyton Technologies in forming a new company, Michigan BC Inc., with a group of investors including Allstate, Ameritech, Apex Venture Capital, Massey-Burch of Nashville, Tenn., and Venture First of Winston-Salem, N.C. We want to make Michigan Bulb an entrepreneurial private company again."
"Whenever a company is up for sale there's always a feeling of uncertainty,...