Ingram Micro has sold AVAD, its custom integration distributor subsidiary, to Kingswood Capital Management, a private equity investment firm.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kingswood, which specializes in buying and buttressing “businesses in transition,” has brought in A/V industry veterans Tom Jacoby and Fred Farrar to helm AVAD as CEO and president, respectively.
Jacoby, a former CEO of Harman Consumer Group, was also vice chairman and corporate development officer of Klipsch Group, and later served as chairman and corporate development officer of Tymphany, a Hong Kong-based ODM and OEM speaker supplier.
Farrar, a former executive VP of Audiovox, also served as a director and operations executive VP for Klipsch Lanham Investments, a private investment firm with CE and real estate holdings.
Kingswood said it brings to the party executive leadership, operational resources and the necessary capital for AVAD to realize its long-term strategic goals, which include extending its customer base into “underserved markets.”
“As the market leader in distribution of premium audio and video solutions, AVAD is poised to grow its product offering and distribution reach under new leadership,” said Alex Wolf, a Kingswood managing partner.
Jacoby noted that he and Farrar had been customers of AVAD, and plan to invest in the distributor’s infrastructure with a focus on “using web-enabled technology to deliver added value to all of our trading partners.”
Farrar added that the company will “build on the most respected line card in the business and further strengthen AVAD’s renowned customer service, technical support and system design capabilities.”
AVAD is a leading distributor of high-end A/V solutions for the commercial and residential custom installation markets, with more than 10,000 customers across the U.S. and Canada.
Former corporate parent Ingram Micro, a global IT distributor, is itself about to be acquired by Chinese conglomerate HNA Group for $6 billion.
