BRAINERD, MN (WTAQ) – One of Wisconsin’s largest hardware and home improvement chains will be sold to a New York investment firm.
KKR will acquire Mills Fleet Farm under a purchase agreement announced Tuesday morning.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but a KKR official says the Mills family would keep a “small ownership stake.”
Stewart Mills Sr. and his two sons started Fleet Farm 61 years ago in Brainerd, Minnesota.
It now has 35 stores throughout the Upper Midwest, including 18 in Wisconsin — and together, they employ around 6,000.
Stewart Mills III said in October the chain needed a buyer with more capital, so the business could keep growing at a competitive rate — and KKR says it’s committed to investing “significantly” to add stores and more jobs.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
