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The legendary Steinway piano maker — whose pricey works of art are manufactured in a Queens factory — was sold to a private equity firm yesterday for $438 million.
The PE giant, Kohlberg & Co., immediately took pains to assure the public that they won’t start cutting corners at the 160-year-old brand.
Steinway’s new owners will make sure “the artisanal manufacturing processes that make the company’s products unique are preserved, celebrated and treasured,” said Christopher W. Anderson, a Kohlberg & Co. partner.
Kohlberg plans to accelerate growth at the company founded in 1853 in a Soho loft by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway and his three sons — and look for sales in China, Russia and Brazil.
Now based in Waltham, Mass., Steinway will add workers at its Queens plant, which recently has strained to keep up with demand after the company’s other factory in Hamburg, Germany, got caught short of skilled artisans.
Last week, the company closed on a deal to sell Steinway Hall, the 88-year-old building across from Carnegie Hall, where generations of maestros have put Steinway’s prize pianos through their paces.
Kohlberg is paying $35 a share, a 15-percent premium to the stock’s Friday closing price.
Steinway shares, however, surged nearly 16 percent, to $35.28, as investors bet that the firm can fetch a higher price.
The agreement includes a 45-day “go shop” period during which Steinway can seek higher bids from other investors.
In honor of the great German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven, who died 26 years before Steinway was founded, the company’s shares trade under the ticker symbol LVB.