Toro Company Acquires Lighting Company

The Toro Company is a leading worldwide provider of turf and landscape maintenance equipment and precision irrigation systems. Toro recently purchased a lighting manufacturer, extending its global presence to more than 80 countries through its reputation of world-class service, innovation and turf expertise.

The Toro Company acquired certain assets from Unique Lighting Systems, a leading manufacturer of high-quality, professionally installed landscape lighting fixtures and transformers for residential and commercial use. This provides entry into outdoor professional lighting market and extends its offering to contractors.

The acquisition strengthens Toro's offering to distributors and irrigation contractors, and includes the Odyssey, Signature Series and Brass and Copper Knights landscape lighting product lines. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

''Unique Lighting has a tremendous customer culture and reputation for building innovative, high-quality products for professional-grade installation,'' said Phil Burkart, vice president of Toro's Irrigation Business. ''What makes this acquisition strategically attractive is that it represents an offering that is installed by many of the same contractors that purchase our irrigation products.''

As a result of the purchase, co-owners Randy Weisser and Nate Mullen will join Toro and become an important part of the company's outdoor lighting team that will be located in Toro's Irrigation Business based in Riverside, Calif. ''We are very excited about our future with Toro,'' said Weisser.

Added Mullen, ''This acquisition adds great value and strength to not only our respective companies, but also our close partners and strong contractor base.''