Tecumseh Products 2006 - 2009 Historical Events Timeline

I’ve had quite a few readers ask about Tecumseh Products, so I thought I’d include a Tecumseh Products management event time line I found that covers the years of 2006 to 2009.  Hopefully it will provide you additional information in a meaningful format.

Recent Tecumseh Products History

2006
— Nov. 20: Todd Herrick announces he will step down as the Tecumseh Products Co.’s CEO after 20 years at the head of the company his grandfather, Ray Herrick, founded. A $100 million credit agreement calls for Herrick to remain as the company’s board chairman after a successor is hired.

2007
— Jan. 19: The products’ board removes Herrick as CEO, replacing him with Jim Bonsall on an interim basis. Bonsall, a managing partner in a corporate-turnaround firm, had been running the company’s small-engine division during restructuring. Kent Herrick is fired from his management position with the company.

— Feb. 28: The company’s board removes Todd Herrick as chairman, replacing him with director David Risley, a former executive at La-Z-Boy in Monroe.

--  April 2: Todd Herrick and Tecumseh Products settle lawsuits over the management of the company resulting in Todd Herrick’s resignation as chairman on April 9. He remains as a non-voting board member as chairman emeritus. Kent Herrick is appointed to the board.

— Aug. 13: Ed Buker becomes CEO and president of the Products. He had been president and CEO of Citation Corp. in Alabama, a maker of cast and machined metal parts. He had previous held management positions in the automotive industry. A condition of his hiring is that he will eventually succeed Risley as chairman.

— Nov. 2: The company announces it will end production activities at its Tecumseh plant by the end of April 2008.

2008
— March 10: The Herrick Foundation recommends putting the company up for sale and says it plans to sell its share of the company’s stock.

— March 12: The company announces it will move its headquarters from Tecumseh to Pittsfield Township outside Ann Arbor.

— June: The company and the Herrick Foundation trade barbs in court over control of the company. The company had instituted a bylaw requiring 75 percent of voting stock to call a special meeting. The old threshold had been 50 percent. The foundation and Herrick family at the time owned more than 40 percent of the company’s voting stock.

— July 18: The company and Herrick Foundation reach an agreement to call a special shareholder meeting to consider removing directors Risley and Peter Banks.

— Dec. 19: Lenawee County Circuit Judge Timothy P. Pickard orders a halt to a planned stock split that would have diluted the Herrick family’s and foundation’s voting power. The company has two types of stock: non-voting Class A and voting Class B. The company claimed the proposed stock split was a move to recapitalize the company.

2009
— February: The company becomes part of an international investigation into alleged price-fixing in the compressor business. The Products, Whirlpool and other companies were cooperating in the investigation, though Tecumseh Products claimed Kent Herrick was not cooperating. The company also announces a new recapitalization plan that would replace the two classes of stock with a single share and compensate Class B shareholders with 1.1 shares of the new stock for every one share of the old stock.

— Aug. 14: Shareholders elect the Herrick Founda­tion’s slate of four candidates to the company’s board and reject the recapitalization plan. Two of management’s candidates who were elected immediately resign.

— Oct. 7: The board fires Buker as CEO and president and he resigns from the board. Kent Herrick is named chairman. James Wainwright, the company’s vice president of global operations, will serve as acting president until the board finds a new president and CEO.