Housewares giant Lifetime Brands, maker and marketer of products under names including KitchenAid and Cuisinart, has completed the acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Ekco, a Mexican manufacturer of housewares under names including Thermos and Presto.

Lifetime Brands paid $21.9 million for the stake. Under the agreement, Lifetime Brands would be able to acquire 100 percent ownership of Ekco or, conversely, to require Ekco to repurchase its stake.

Ekco plans to apply proceeds from the sale toward financing its earlier acquisition of Industria Mexicana del Aluminio, an aluminum smelter. The agreement also allows Lifetime to appoint four new members to Ekco's 11-person board of directors.

Lifetime Brands, based in Garden City, N.Y., is one of the country’s largest housewares companies, with additional brands including Farberware, Pfaltzgraff, Calvin Klein, Block, CasaModa and Towle.