Who is the Iowa company buying Steelcase for $2.2B?

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — For many in Michigan’s Furniture City, HNI was likely an unfamiliar name.

That changed, however, Monday morning, Aug. 4, when the Iowa-based company announced the $2.2 billion acquisition of Steelcase, one of West Michigan’s largest office furniture makers.

While 32 years younger than its former rival, HNI gradually rose from humble beginnings to become one of the top global office furniture manufacturers alongside Steelcase and MillerKnoll of Zeeland, according to filing data from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

HNI was founded in 1944 in Muscatine, Iowa, by engineer C. Maxwell Stanley, advertising executive Clem Hanson and industrial designer H. Wood Miller, according to its website.

The company, which still maintains its Muscatine headquarters, has about 7,100 employees worldwide. HNI employees benefit from profit sharing and stock ownership in the company.

HNI on Monday did not say or respond to questions about whether it would retain all of Steelcase’s 11,300 employees worldwide through the acquisition. That figure includes 3,500 in the Grand Rapids area, according to The Right Place, West Michigan’s economic development organization.

The two companies plan to establish a joint integration planning team in the coming weeks to facilitate the merger, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.

HNI features HON, Allsteel, Gunlocke, HBF, Design Public and Danish Design Store in its portfolio of office furniture brands.

The company also is a major manufacturer of hearth products such as fireplaces, inserts, stoves, facings and accessories. Brands include Heat & Glo, Heatilator, Fireside, Majestic, Quadra-Fire and Vermont Castings.

HNI reported net sales of $2.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, of which $1.9 billion was attributable to the workplace furnishings segment and about $600 million was attributable to the hearth products segment, according to its annual report.

Steelcase is the second high-profile acquisition for HNI Corporation in recent years. The company in June 2023 acquired Kimball International in a deal valued at around $485 million.

Kimball International, based in Jasper, Ind., is a home furnishings company serving various industries under the Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven and David Edward brands.

“The successful integration of Kimball International has proven we have a playbook utilizing cross-functional teams focused on the right priorities driving processes that deliver results,” HNI Chair, President and CEO Jeff Lorenger said in a conference call Monday announcing the Steelcase acquisition.

HNI Corporation in a recent earnings report saw net sales of $667.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, a 7% increase over last year. This was driven in part by a 5% increase in contract orders for workplace furnishings despite a tariff-related demand pause in the hospitality industry.

Net sales for workplace furnishings increased from $480.2 million to $516 million year-over-year in the second quarter. Net sales for hearth products grew from $143.5 million to $151.1 million in the same timeframe, according to the earnings report.