Audiovox Completes Acquisition of Thomson's Consumer Electronics Audio Video Business (1/04/08)
January 4, 2008
Audiovox Corporation, of Hauppauge, N.Y.
has completed its
acquisition of Thomson's Consumer Electronics Audio Video Business outside of
Europe, including the worldwide rights to the RCA brand for consumer
electronics audio video product lines except TVs and certain additional
product categories.
The deal, completed on Dec. 31, 2007, has a purchase price of $19.7 million, plus a net
asset payment, and includes a five-year fee, which begins in 2010, related to
the RCA brand. Audio Video Products acquired include DVD players and
recorders, portable DVD players, GPS devices, HD and Internet Radios, stand
alone ATSC terrestrial television converters, clock radios, MP3 and MP4
players, digital cameras and camcorders and other product that falls within
the audio/video field of use.
In total, Audiovox will be acquiring approximately $400 million in sales
and expects to retain $150 million of that related to the RCA branded MP3 and
MP4 players, digital cameras, camcorders and clock radios. The Company is
entering into a license agreement with Multimedia Device Ltd., a Chinese
manufacturer to market the remaining product categories acquired in the
transaction. The Company expects the transaction to be accretive within the
first year.
Patrick Lavelle, President and CEO of Audiovox stated, "Our goal with this
acquisition was to further control and consolidate the RCA brand and prevent
fractionalization at the retail level. We believe this acquisition will add
approximately $150 million in sales and a revenue stream with an up front $10
million payment. In addition, it will allow us to spread fixed overhead over a
higher sales base, which will further reduce OPEX percentage, since the
acquired overhead will be limited. We will establish Audiovox Mexico
utilizing the former Thomson facility there, giving Audiovox a presence in
that growing market and allowing us to expand the entire Audiovox line."
Lavelle added, "Over the past year, we have made five acquisitions
including this one that should generate sales of approximately $300-$350
million ... for approximately $100 million. We believe we have purchased
wisely and that these acquisitions should lead to improved operating and
financial performance in our next fiscal year."
The Company intends to integrate the Thomson and Technuity assets into its
operations during the remainder of its fiscal 2008 fourth quarter and fiscal
2009 first quarter and should have much of the work complete by May 31, 2008.
The newly acquired assets will be included in Audiovox Electronics
Corporation's Consumer Electronics group.
In January 2007, Audiovox completed its acquisition of Thomson's America's
consumer electronics accessory business, which included the rights to the RCA
brand for consumer electronics accessories. That acquisition also included
the Recoton, Spikemaster, Ambico and Discwasher brands for use on any products
and the Jensen, Advent, Acoustic Research and Road Gear brands for accessory
products that complemented the purchase of those brands for electronics
products in 2003.
In March 2007, Audiovox German Holdings GmbH completed the acquisition of
Oehlbach a European market leader in accessories. That was followed by an
August 2007 acquisition of Incaar Limited, a UK business that specializes in
rear seat entertainment systems, which added to our European operation an
accessory and OE component, respectively.
In November of 2007, Audiovox Accessories Corporation completed the
acquisition of all of the outstanding stock of Technuity, Inc., an emerging
leader in the battery and power products industry and exclusive licensee of
the Energizer brand in North America for rechargeable batteries and battery
packs for camcorders, cordless phones, digital cameras, DVD players and other
power supply devices. This acquisition was made to further strengthen the
Company's position in the accessory market.
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