TOKYO – Since when did mergers and acquisitions become a staple of your favorite live audio magazine? Since a bunch of companies have been merging and being acquired. There’s another one that just finalized, but it seems like a good fit from the start, making it less scary than some other recent M&A moves. To “further its growth in live audio, broadcast and DJ technologies,” D&M Holdings Inc., a Tokyo-based operating company that owns such brands as Calrec Audio, Denon DJ and McIntosh Laboratory, has acquired Allen & Heath, effective April 1, the first day of D&M Holding’s 2008 fiscal year.
D&M Holdings Inc. officials first approached Allen & Heath regarding an interest in a business venture and discussed the prospect with major shareholders in late summer 2007, says Glenn Rogers, managing director of Allen & Heath. It was then decided that the acquisition would have a positive impact on both parties.
“We’re moving from a small company that did everything for itself into a corporate world where we can use the expertise within the group to try and accelerate into new areas of thinking. Although we’ve done very well with our technology development, we have the chance to get ideas from the other brands,” he says.
Although D&M Holdings is now the sole owner of Allen & Heath, the private company will remain relatively unchanged from a customer standpoint, Rogers affirms, acknowledging that the brand, distribution, employees and manufacturing will remain the same in the foreseeable future.
“We are obviously working to continue to develop strong business, but we have some very loyal and successful distributors around the world that have worked very hard for the Allen & Heath brand and we hope to continue that relationship with them,” Rogers says.
Lynn Martin, president of American Music and Sound, the exclusive U.S. distributor of Allen & Heath, says that he has received assurance from the company that distribution will not be affected. American Music and Sound will continue to deal directly with Allen and Heath representatives in the UK.
“Certainly one could project that there could be a lot of synergies between the various brands,” Martin notes. “I view the acquisition as having good possibilities.”
Rogers says he is looking forward to developing new technologies and possible synergies between the other D&M Holdings brands, particularly Calrec Audio, manufacturer of broadcast audio equipment and Denon, manufacture of DJ products, to create opportunities to expand Allen & Heath’s business in those markets.
“I think Calrec Audio is a good interest because they are in the same sector as we are,” Rogers says. “Some of our products do get used for broadcast from time to time, but most of our business is focused on the live sound market. A few extra doors might open up for us, so I look forward to working with them,” Rogers says.
Gail Petersen, director of corporate communications for D&M Holdings, says the main reason behind the acquisition resides in the company’s corporate strategy, which is to expand in the professional audio arena ⎯ and Allen & Heath seemed like a perfect fit with D&M’s business platform.
The aforementioned business platform provides sales, marketing, human resources, supply chain and after sales services, among others, allowing a “smaller audio company like Allen & Heath to expand their global footprint, where before they might not have been able to, and concentrate on innovation,” Petersen says.
ACTION ITEM:
For information, please visit www.allen-heath.com and www.dm-holdings.com
