Six months after exiting bankruptcy Spectrum Brands Inc., maker of Rayovac batteries and Remington shavers, is merging with the small kitchen appliance maker Russell Hobbs Inc. So, has hedge fund Harbinger Capital -- which owns 40% of the former and all of the latter -- finally engineered a stable platform for the bevy of consumer brands it has been moving around for the last few years? Will plans to list Spectrum -- currently traded over the counter, but an NYSE stock prior to bankruptcy -- pay off with a valuation like those enjoyed by Jarden Corp. and Newell Rubbermaid Inc.?

Looks like a stretch. The transaction, which has Spectrum buying Russell Hobbs for $675 million in stock and assumed debt, will shore up Spectrum's capital structure, no doubt its chief aim. On the operating front, however, the picture is less inspiring. Anticipated cost synergies of $25 million to $30 million may be achieveable in a reasonable timeframe. But most of the enhanced "revenue opportunities" cited by Spectrum look like long-term projects at best, calling for ambitious cross-selling and development from businesses coming off a pretty bumpy period.

So while Spectrum's pet business may be able to sell more of Russell Hobbs' Littermaid cat-boxes, the aspiration to "expand Remington's product categories with Russell Hobbs' brands" in personal care seems further fetched. Likewise the notion that Spectrum will "potentially migrate Remington brand awareness into [the] kitchen appliance space."

Russell Hobbs, best known as the maker of electric teakettles popular in the U.K., is the name Harbinger chose when it rechristened portfolio company Salton Inc. in December. Harbinger took Salton private in December 2008, having previously joined it with distressed consumer products distributor Applica Inc. in a reverse merger consummated in January 2008. The merger united Salton's George Foreman grills and Toastmaster appliances with Applica's Black & Decker appliances and Littermaid cat products.

The idea of joining the two pet businesses isn't new. Salton tried to buy Spectrum's pet unit for $915 million in May 2008, but the deal was rebuffed by Spectrum's senior lenders the following month, and Spectrum entered bankruptcy protection shortly afterward.

Financiers and consumer products, of course, have a long history together. Jarden's portfolio includes the former Sunbeam businesses -- remember Chainsaw Al? -- which it got when it bought American Household Inc. in 2004. Spectrum's financial adventures date back to a 1996 buyout of Rayovac Corp. by Thomas H. Lee Co. Could it become a Jarden? Not soon.