Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fagre covers a broad Spectrum

By: Jane Pribek//August 19, 2013//

Fagre covers a broad Spectrum

By: Jane Pribek//August 19, 2013//

Listen to this article

Nathan-FagreClinking the champagne flutes in celebration of a new acquisition marks the end of a transaction. But it’s only the beginning when it comes to the hefty task of integrating the new company into the existing enterprise.

It’s that type of challenge that truly motivates Nathan Fagre, general counsel for Spectrum Brands Inc, Madison.

One of Fagre’s central tasks is overseeing the successful assimilation of Kwikset, the world’s largest manufacturer of home locks.

The complicated deal took several months, as Kwikset has operations in 25 countries around the world.

“So we had to negotiate the purchase agreement not only in the U.S.,” he said, “but also, country by country, we dealt with the acquisition and regulatory issues of each nation.”

Many of these locations were new to Spectrum Brands.

The two-stage transaction wrapped up in April. Now, Fagre and his department are busily changing contracts, combining subsidiaries to make operations more efficient, etc.

The $1.4 billion deal was the largest in-house transaction Fagre’s been involved with, but he predicts it won’t be the last transaction of that magnitude.

Future growth is likely for the 99-year-old company, perhaps best known for Rayovac batteries, but also home to other well-known brands including George Foreman, Black & Decker, Littermaid and Cutter insect repellant. The company presently does $4.3 billion in annual sales and employs 12,500 people worldwide.

Fagre is chief legal officer supervising 17 other lawyers, half of whom are overseas. Though he is a generalist of sorts, corporate governance and consumer protection issues occupy much of his time.

Fagre came to Spectrum Brands in 2011, after 15 years in-house, first at Occidental Petroleum in California and then ValueVision Media in the Twin Cities. Before that, he was in private practice in New York and Washington, D.C.

The international nature of his role especially resonates with him, he said, after spending the first 15 years of his life in Tokyo, and having earned a master’s in international affairs from Oxford University. He holds undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard.

After spending many years in Minnesota and being an avid sailor, Fagre has developed an affinity for the Great Lakes. That interest has led him to volunteer with Madison-based Clean Lakes Alliance.

He and his wife Constance also are active in Boy Scouts. They have four sons.