Wire management and electrical installation company Legrand announced today it has signed an agreement to acquire Milestone AV, a U.S.-based digital infrastructure company, for an enterprise value of $950 million. Milestone AV is the parent company of brands like Chief, Sanus and Da-Lite.
Legrand says the purchase is a “synergistic move” which will nearly double the company’s existing base of over 3,500 dealer relationships tied to its Middle Atlantic Products brand. Likewise, Milestone officials noted in a press release that Legrand’s relationships with electrical, IT and data communication distributors could allow Milestone to move into these distribution channels in the mid-term.
The company notes that Milestone has built strong ties with distribution channels offering “wide geographical coverage” and access to corporate, hospitality, houses of worship, education, government and retail markets.
Additionally, the press release states that over 75 percent of Milestone sales are generated by products that rank No. 1 or No. 2 in their markets.
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Chairman and CEO of Legrand Gilles Schnepp says the acquisition allows the company to pursue its ongoing reinforcement in digital infrastructure, more specifically in the high-value AV infrastructure and power segment in the United States.
“Milestone will bring Legrand leading positions in commercial and residential AV mounts, as well as in projector screens enabling the Group to provide AV customers with scalable, end to-end offerings,” Schnepp says.
“Combined with Legrand’s No. 1 positions in AV enclosures in the US under the Middle Atlantic Products brand, Milestone will enable the Group to provide US customers with scalable, end-to-end offerings on a market driven by both social megatrends (communication, security, distance and collaborative working etc.) and technological megatrends (digitalization, new display technologies, streaming technologies etc.),” cites the announcement.
Based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Milestone recorded 2016 revenues of $464 million, 90 percent in North America. Over the same period, adjusted operating profit and free cash flow stood at respectively 21 percent and 12.5 percent of sales.
The company employs around 1,000 and has locations in the United States, Canada, China, Hong-Kong, Australia and the Netherlands. Its subsidiaries include Chief, Da-Lite, Sanus, Vaddio and Projecta.
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