NEWSLETTER OWNERSHIP CHANGE AT SYMETRIX Symetrix (Mountlake Terrace WA) has announced that Mark and Rachelle Graham have joined the Symetrix team as the new Owners of the business. As a veteran of more than 30 years in the audio industry, Mark Graham fills the CEO role. Symetrix’s current Owner, Julia Ogden, has been considering a change in ownership of the company for some time after 32 years with Symetrix. Mark Graham was CEO of LOUD Technologies for the last eight years. Before that, Graham was the President of Crown Audio, a Harman company. His industry experience includes working for Hewlett Packard in its test and measurement division and owning his own audio contracting business. Meanwhile, Rachelle Graham has been a marketing manager for several large organizations, including Agilent Technologies, the University of Kansas and BioServe Space Technologies, one of NASA’s Commercial Space Centers. According to Ogden, “The launch of our new products will move ahead seamlessly. We’ve put a lot of thought into how to make the transition as smooth as possible so that none of our deadlines slip.” Symetrix will remain at the same location, and all employees will be retained. Ogden will continue to work for the company throughout a transition period, and she will serve on the company’s Board of Directors going forward.
BIAMP ACQUIRES CAMBRIDGE SOUND MANAGEMENT Biamp (Beaverton OR) has announced the acquisition of Cambridge Sound Management (CSM, Waltham MA) from Gladstone Investment Corp. CSM is a provider of direct and in-plenum sound-masking solutions. CSM systems have approximately 50-percent market share and represent more than 20,000 installations. CSM sells through a network of integrators to enhance its distribution and support reach. This model, along with many of the integrators themselves, is identical to Biamp’s own. Biamp’s President, CEO and Co-Chairman, Rashid Skaf, remarked, “The acquisition of Cambridge Sound Management unites two great brands in the professional audiovisual market. Together, we offer customers better access to industry-leading solutions that manage sound and video to address a wide array of modern communications and collaboration challenges. It has been just one year since I led the acquisition of Biamp with Highlander Partners with the stated intent of leveraging it as a platform to build a respected provider of comprehensive audiovisual solutions. This transaction is the first evidence of that strategy being implemented, but far from the last. Biamp is on the move!” CSM will join Biamp as a product family within the company’s portfolio, with business functions gradually being blended to form a single Biamp business.
RCF GROUP ACQUIRES DPA MICROPHONES RCF Group (Reggio Emilia, Italy) has announced the signing of a definitive agreement for the acquisition of DPA Microphones A/S (Alleroed, Denmark) from The Riverside Company. DPA’s products serve the high-end professional audio microphone market for the live, theater, studio and broadcast end-user segments. RCF Group, with branches in the US and Europe, operates under the companies RCF, AEB Industriale (dB Technologies) and EAW. RCF Group generates more than 80 percent of its revenues outside of Italy in 120 countries. In 2017, two European private-equity players, Palladio Holding and Amundi Private Equity Funds, invested in RCF Group with a minority stake to support and enhance the group in its growth plans. Following the September 2018 acquisition of EAW, RCF Group’s acquisition of DPA represents a second milestone on the company’s growth path. Chiomenti provided legal assistance on the transaction for RCF Group, which was also assisted by New Deal Advisors for financial due diligence and by Deloitte for tax and legal due diligence.
You could have received this NEWSLETTER information about three weeks ago, with more detail and live links, via email. Go to www.soundandcommunications.com to sign up! January 2019
Sound & Communications
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