Sound & Communications NEWSLETTER, January 2019

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.

DIGICO ACQUIRES KLANG:TECHNOLOGIES

DiGiCo (Chessington, UK) has announced the acquisition of KLANG:technologies (Aachen, Germany) as an addition to the Audiotonix family, which includes audio brands such as Allen & Heath, Calrec, DiGiGrid, Solid State Logic and DiGiCo. The deal was concluded in December. James Gordon, CEO of Audiotonix, commented, “When the opportunity arose for [KLANG] to join Audiotonix, we were keen to make it happen. We have always stressed that, with our [mergers and acquisitions], we would look at each brand’s requirement and help support them with their aspirations. On that basis, KLANG will become a key part of DiGiCo’s future....” Austin Freshwater, General Manager of DiGiCo, added, “We have been working in the background with KLANG for some months on increasing our level of integration. Over that time, it was clear the ethos of the development teams was similar, with a lot of shared common goals. Combining the control of the KLANG system into the DiGiCo worksurface will allow I-IEM and 3D personal monitoring to be a part of an engineer’s natural workflow, and that’s just the beginning for us and the KLANG team.”

DTEN CHOOSES STARIN FOR EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION

DTEN (San Jose CA) has appointed Starin (Chesterton IN) as its exclusive supply partner in the US. Starin will be providing the new interactive DTEN D7 Zoom Rooms Certified display beginning this month, along with the range of other DTEN screens. The D7 all-in-one will bring ease of installation and operation to huddle spaces and conferencing rooms, the manufacturer said. Starin was chosen as the exclusive distributor for this product line due to its broad experience bringing innovations to market with its full service of marketing and channel support. Starin carries the whole range of the Zoom ecosystem brands, and it works closely with Zoom and Zoom-certified integrators for fulfillment of opportunities. DTEN has worked in conjunction with Zoom software development to create this first of what will be several devices, ensuring they are 100-percent Zoom Rooms ready.

K-ARRAY LAUNCHES K-ARRAY USA

K-array (Florence, Italy) has announced the launch of K-array USA (Wellesley MA). With a new facility located in the greater Boston MA area, the manufacturer will directly oversee operations of the sales, marketing and service of K-array’s audio solutions in the US. The new operation, already in effect as of December 1, is headed by K-array Global Business Development Director Rusty Waite. It will work alongside manufacturer’s reps SG Western (California, Nevada, Arizona), Marketing Concepts (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi) and On The Road Marketing (New York, New Jersey), which will cover their respective territories to grow the brand.

PLANTRONICS SETTLES SEC INVESTIGATION OF POLYCOM

Plantronics (Santa Cruz CA) has agreed to pay $36 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle foreign-bribery allegations against its recently acquired subsidiary, Polycom (San Jose CA). As a result of the settlement, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has declined to bring any criminal charges against Polycom, citing Plantronics’ full cooperation with the investigation. Polycom is neither admitting to nor denying the SEC’s allegations. The SEC began its foreign-bribery investigation after Polycom reported “evidence of possible improper behavior on the part of former employees at its subsidiary in China,” possibly in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). According to a statement by Plantronics, “The conduct at issue was limited to Polycom China and occurred prior to Plantronics’ acquisition of Polycom in July 2018, and prior to Polycom going private in 2016. All of the individuals involved had left Polycom by the time Plantronics acquired Polycom.” Polycom was acquired by Plantronics in a $2 billion deal last year. The $36 million settlement will be paid from an escrow account secured by Plantronics as part of its acquisition of Polycom.

COMPILED BY DAN FERRISI AND ANTHONY VARGAS