By Mike Ramsey
Harman International Inc., a maker of in-car multimedia systems,
is buying the automotive side of Bang & Olufsen, giving the
Stamford, Conn., company a dominant position in the automotive
industry.
The EUR145 million ($156 million) purchase gives Harman Bang
& Olufsen's automotive business and licenses the use of the
brands connected to the Danish company, according to a statement
from Harman. The purchase doesn't include Bang & Olufsen's
consumer-electronics business.
The brand is a luxury offering found on Audi, Aston Martin, BMW
and Mercedes-Benz vehicles, primarily. The combined group now
offers the Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins, Harman Kardon,
Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel brands.
"From the marketing, scale and technologies Harman will bring to
the business, we will strengthen and grow the Bang & Olufsen
and B&O PLAY automotive audio brands and, importantly, further
improve profitability, which is now in line with our existing car
audio business," said Chief Executive Dinesh Paliwal, in a
statement.
This purchase follows up a $950 million investment into two
different software firms earlier this year by Harman, which is
building up its position to provide programming and hardware for
the screens inside of automobiles.
The declining euro made the purchase more affordable for Harman
than it might have been a year ago, when the exchange rate pegged
the euro at close to $1.40 instead of $1.08.
Write to Mike Ramsey at michael.ramsey@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=DE0005190003
Access Investor Kit for Harman International Industries,
Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US4130861093
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires