Kenwood, JVC Agree To Merge

[W3DUB]

From http://www.arrl.org/

"This Week in Consumer Electronics (TWICE) reports that Kenwood has agreed to merge in 2008 with Victor Company of Japan (JVC) under a holding company. JVC is owned by Matsu####a Electric Industrial Company. Japan's Nikkei business newspaper reports that the final details should be worked out by the end of the month, and that under the plan, Kenwood will buy 20 billion yen ($161,469,466) in JVC shares as early as this summer, raising its stake to 13 percent. Matsu####a will also sell part of its 52.7 percent of JVC to Kenwood's top shareholder, the Sparx Group. When JVC and Kenwood integrate operations under the holding company in 2008, Matsu####a will sell the rest of its JVC shares to the holding company to complete the transaction. The holding company's stock will be listed instead of Kenwood and JVC, according to Nikkei. Combined, Kenwood's and JVC's sales are $7.3 billion dollars annually for their fiscal year that ended March 31."

What it means isn't exactly clear... but it sounds like the change would be pretty transparent to us and Kenwood would be the majority shareholder in the deal. So no JVC rigs anytime soon.

[KY5U]

Johnson Wax, Motorola, and Japan's ####zu Ltd. are merging under the holding company name of ####z and Shineola.

[W3DUB]

bahahaha you are quick, Charlie!

[W3WN]

A complicated financial deal, to be sure. Sounds like, in very broad terms, that Kenwood is going to create a "holding company" to own itself (ie current Kenwood stockholders become owners of the "holding company"), and then that company will in turn acquire JVC stock in various methods.

So at the end of the day, there will be a new company that will own Kenwood & JVC outright.

This can prove interesting on a number of fronts. After all is said and done, will the three corporate entities end up merged into one? Or will Kenwood & JVC remain "independant" of each other, at least initially?

Or will the holding company then acquire additional companies to own?

Another thought would be that certain assets of Kenwood & JVC may be split off from the original companies, merged into a new corporate entity or three that is in turn owned by the holding company.

This isn't neccesarily either good news or bad news. It does make you wonder about the ultimate fate of the Amateur Radio division of Kenwood. It is a small piece of the Kenwood pie as it is, this will only serve to make it an even smaller piece of the corporate structure.

Then again... wouldn't it be interesting if the holding company purchased another amateur radio firm (which one? good question) and then merged Kenwood's AR division into it? Or split the AR division off as it's own entity and then sold it off to investors or spun it off to stockholders? Or pick your own wild speculation.

Film at 11. Stay tuned!

73

[KB1GYQ]

Given the other big players have come out with new high $$$ rigs and kenwood hasn't, one wonders if they want out of the amateur radio market...

[W3DUB]

I've always seen Kenwood as a more "value" based AR manufacturer.. not interested in the high end. The transaction is complicated for sure.

A lot of the time with this transactions, the final deal ends up spinning off a few divisions. Will be interesting to see what will happen.

[AI4EP]

It does make one wonder that --- IF Kenwood equipment is so great, fine & dandy...why are there so many of the 2000 models FOR SALE at any given time ? It seems that if they were / are that great , that the buyers would be keepers and USED ones would be very, very rare....instead of being so common on the USED market (ebay, qrz, qth, flea markets, garage sales, etc ).

But you folks go ahead and throw your money away like there is no tomorrow and you aint never going to be happy. Happy maybe in the sense that you actually found some fool to buy your 2000 for as much as you wanted, but deep down inside, you know in your heart ( if you have one ) that you aint happy, and that you should have kept it for your own personal use...even though you DO deserve better.

sad, so sad....

[KY5U]

Robert, does your train of thought have a caboose?

[KJ3N]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ June 26 2007,14:33)]Robert, does your train of thought have a caboose?

It doesn't even have tracks....

[N6KX]

Yes, I also hear that Oprah Winfrey will merge her business with Deepak Chopra. The new name will be Oprah Chopra!