PORTLAND – Miller Paint Co. Inc. has entered into a strategic agreement with Kelly-Moore Paint Co. Inc. to acquire the business operations and selected assets of 10 Kelly-Moore Paint stores located in the Puget Sound area. Miller will maintain and operate nine locations, while a 10^th Kelly-Moore store in Kent, WA, will be closed and consolidated into Miller Paint’s Kent store. Between now and the transaction close date, scheduled for April 30, 2012, Kelly-Moore and Miller will work together to transition the Kelly-Moore store operations, employees and professional outside sales teams over to Miller Paint. On April 30, ownership of the business at the nine Kelly-Moore stores will transfer to Miller Paint, with no other changes to the stores’ operations planned.

The new strategic alliance was established to maintain the nine Kelly-Moore stores and expand the exclusive distribution of Kelly-Moore’s architectural paint products in the region through Miller Paint’s current eight store locations. Miller Paint has committed to maintaining and eventually expanding the distribution of the full line of Kelly-Moore products throughout Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho, where Miller currently operates 40 stores.

Steve DeVoe, President and CEO of Kelly-Moore Paints, commented, “We view this alliance with Miller Paint as a positive strategic move for Kelly-Moore Paint in the Puget Sound market. Now, our Northwest customers will have the added convenience of finding Kelly-Moore products in more store locations than ever before. Ultimately, this strengthens our company. This partnership is specific to this market; it’s not a new company direction overall or an indication of things to come in other markets. We expect to continue to expand to meet and exceed our customers’ needs through new locations and new Kelly-Moore products. In the next two years, we plan to add 13 new stores, in our northern California market, to complement our existing 141 Kelly-Moore store locations.”

Miller Paint Co. Inc., Portland, OR, is a 100-percent employee-owned company that has been manufacturing and selling the highest quality coatings products in the Pacific Northwest for over 122 years.

Headquartered in San Carlos, CA, Kelly-Moore is one of the largest employee-owned paint companies in the United States. A leader and innovator of waterborne-coating technology, Kelly-Moore was the first major paint company to offer recycled paints, along with one of the largest selections of stock colors.