Legrand Acquisition Teams On-Q with Greyfox

WEST HARTFORD, Ct. -- On-Q Technologies Inc., better known as On-Q Home, has been acquired by Legrand Corp. On-Q CEO Doug Fikse made the announcement in the last two minutes of the opening keynote address at the Electronic House Expo on Feb. 24. Answering a question about the future of the home systems industry, Fikse said, "I predict that On-Q Home and Greyfox will be combined to form On-Q/Legrand. I predict that I will be staying on as president of On-Q/Legrand."

Surprise, surprise, the prediction came true.

Legrand, based in Limoges, France, is a $2.6 billion manufacturer of systems for electrical installations and data networks in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Legrand North America, the group that acquired On-Q, also owns Pass & Seymour, Wiremold, Ortronics and Watt Stopper.

Pass & Seymour/Legrand acquired On-Q competitor Greyfox in 2001. Now On-Q and Greyfox have merged into one group called On-Q/Legrand. Fikse is president of the new organization, and Greyfox leader Dan Tarkoff is vice president of engineering and product management.

Since it spun off from AMP in 1999, On-Q has become, by many accounts, the country's largest provider of residential structured wiring systems. Established in 1994, Greyfox has been among the top five or 10 providers.

"We liked the Greyfox business so much we wanted to do more of it," says John Selldorff, president and CEO of Legrand NA. "We could have done it through Greyfox, but this is a much bigger, much faster move."

In the short term, On-Q and Greyfox will continue to supply products as usual, but ultimately product lines will be consolidated. "We're not going to pull products from customers who are using them today," he says. "We'll continue to sell the best of both brands, and then rationalize the lines later."

Sooner, rather than later, Fikse expects Greyfox and On-Q dealers will be able to take advantage of products offered by one company and not the other, for example Greyfox's Cat 5 intercom system and On-Q's in-ceiling wireless access point.

Fikse also expects to explore other Legrand groups for product and channel opportunities. He suggests, for example, that there could be some opportunities with Ortronics, a commercial-oriented cable company. "We're doing some MDU [multidwelling unit] business, and they're doing some MDU."

Similarly, Fikse is just starting to examine Watt Stopper, a Legrand property that recently began offering the Miro line of wireless lighting controls. Currently, On-Q offers a line of hardwired controls. "This gives us the ability to tap into resources for lighting control," says Fikse. "Before, I was always going to be resource-limited against companies like Lutron."

Fikse and Selldorff stop short of suggesting that Legrand will approach homebuilders with an integrated package spanning all related lines including Pass & Seymour's electrical products, On-Q/Legrand's structured wiring, Watt Stopper's lighting controls and Wiremold's cable-management products. Still, says Fikse, the broad offering "helps to get the mindshare of builders."