Sound United Completes Acquisition of Bowers & Wilkins
Sound United has finalised the acquisition of Bowers & Wilkins which now joins Denon, Polk Audio, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Classé, and Boston Acoustics.
Bowers & Wilkins has finally been acquired by Sound United, although, Bowers & Wilkins initially had rather strong feelings regarding the term.
This deal brings with it the British brand's luxury home audio speakers, headphones, custom installation products, wireless speakers, and branded audio systems in the automotive and television markets.
The acquisition includes all worldwide third-party distribution and licensing agreements under which Bowers & Wilkins premium audio products are currently sold.
Kevin Duffy, CEO at Sound United, told StereoNET:
Acquiring Bowers & Wilkins combines its industry-leading acoustic design, engineering and manufacturing expertise in the premium category with Sound United's scale, technical acumen and consumer reach to ensure Bowers & Wilkins thrives moving forward. Sound United has a strong track record of enthusiastically protecting each of its brands' unique identities and core competencies, and our approach with Bowers & Wilkins will be no different. In fact, we believe the entire portfolio stands to benefit from the addition of Bowers & Wilkins, which in turn translates into exciting new products, technologies and opportunities for our consumers, distributors, dealers, and all audio enthusiasts around the world.
Geoff Edwards, CEO of Bowers & Wilkins, will ensure continuity by becoming President of the Bowers & Wilkins brand at Sound United. He told us:
This acquisition represents a new era for Bowers & Wilkins and offers a fresh opportunity to focus on what we do best: building the industry's finest loudspeakers. We're looking forward to combining our organisations and becoming a part of the industry's strongest portfolio of premium audio brands.
Sound United is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC. Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Bowers & Wilkins.
Investing in additional brands enables Sound United to better innovate across product categories, feature sets, technology partners, and consumer segments, says the company.
We are told that Sound United is eager to support the development of new Bowers & Wilkins products as well as supporting the brand's position in the premium acoustic home audio market.
More information at Bowers & Wilkins
Jay Garrett
StereoNET’s resident rock star, bass player, and gadget junkie. Jay heads up StereoNET as Editor for the United Kingdom and Europe regions. His passion for gadgets and Hi-Fi is second only to being a touring musician.
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