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Audiovox, Thomson Complete Recoton Acquisitions

Hauppauge, N.Y. — The Audiovox Electronics acquisition of Recoton’s electronics business closed on Tuesday with “no material change” in the agreed purchase price, an Audiovox spokesman said.

Thomson also officially closed its acquisition of Recoton’s consumer electronics accessories business yesterday for just under $60 million, the same amount agreed upon a month ago. The Paris-based CE giant had submitted a winning bid for Recoton’s accessories business early in June, topping a purchase proposal by Gemini Industries by $10 million.

The French manufacturer will tuck the newly acquired Acoustic Research, Advent, Jensen, Discwasher, Ambico, Spikemaster and Recoton accessories brands under the wing of its new Consumer Solutions business.

Audiovox Electronics, the home and car electronics subsidiary of Audiovox Corp., paid $40 million plus the assumption of $5 million in debt for Recoton’s non-accessories businesses in the United States and Europe.

As part of its effort to ensure continuity of operations with retail accounts, Audiovox “plans to maintain R&D facilities in Lake Mary, Fla.,” Audiovox Electronics president Pat Lavelle told TWICE. “The company also expects to maintain sales, engineering and product-development teams that were in place as well as certain operational functions.”

“We will keep a lot of employees on board,” a spokesman added without discussing numbers.

Audiovox recently purchased 40,000 square feet of additional office space next to its existing facilities here in Hauppauge and has said the additional space is needed to accommodate the expansion of its Audiovox Electronics businesses and to accommodate the Recoton acquisition.

Said Audiovox Corp. chairman John Shalam, “The recent Recoton acquisition will require additional space as we incorporate the new product lines under the Jensen, Acoustic Research and Advent brands into our operation. New products require the expansion of engineering and testing facilities.” In addition, he said, “some of our assembly, processing and repacking facilities are already strained at the existing location, and this new space will improve productivity as well as provide much needed room to grow.

Besides acquiring the Jensen, Acoustic Research and Advent brands for electronics products, Audiovox also inherits the Road Gear car audio name, which was sold primarily to Wal-Mart, and the inactive Phase Linear brand for electronics.

In Western Europe, Audiovox obtains the HECO home speaker brand and the Mac Audio and Magnat brands of home and car speakers and amplifiers. They’ll complement Audiovox car electronics marketed there.

Audiovox also obtained, and plans to maintain, two U.S. brand-licensing deals. Under one long-term contract, Spectra Merchandising markets Jensen-brand portable audio, home audio electronics, and portable video products, including clock radios, mini and micro systems, and under-counter CD clock radios. Under the other contract, Chinese television manufacturer Prima Technology licenses the Advent and Jensen names for mid- to upper-end televisions.

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