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There’s a new sheriff in town. Today, Sound United (parent company of Polk Audio and Definitive Technology) announced the blockbuster purchase of D+M Group, owner of Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, and Heos multi-room audio. The transaction officially closed as of February 28th and the unification process has begun. According to a company letter to industry partners and dealers, shipments and services from these brands will continue uninterrupted.
This acquisition marks the marriage of the largest supplier of AV receivers in the world and the largest supplier of loudspeakers in the North American market. The combination of companies will be known as “Sound United.” Sound United is a division of DEI Holdings, a portfolio company of a Boston-based private equity firm called Charles Capital Partners, LLC.
Kevin Duffy, CEO of Sound United, has been designated to serve as CEO of the entire group of companies going forward. According to Duffy, "Sound United and the D+M Group employees share a culture of innovation and customer focus. We plan to leverage those core values in the combined company in order to offer consumers and our channel partners a breadth of complementary products while expanding our investments in technology development and marketing." He continued by stressing that each of Sound United’s individual brands will continue to be highly differentiated in the marketplace.
D+M Group CEO Jim Caudill, who will continue as an advisor to the consolidated company, added, "This transaction is a testament to D+M Group's employees and exceptional brands and all that we've accomplished in the audio industry. By joining Sound United, we expect to deliver tremendous value to our customers through access to Sound United's aspirational speaker brands including Polk Audio and Definitive Technology. We believe that this transaction will drive compelling opportunities for our employees, customers, and suppliers, and are looking forward to ensuring the success of the new organization."
This is an interesting move for the former speaker-focused company, and will likely help brands such as Polk and Definitive Technology gain further traction in global markets. It remains to be seen if Sound United will opt to share technologies across brands.
Image Credit: Sound United