Navico sold to Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division

Navico, the parent company to the popular Lowrance, Simrad, B&G and GoFree brands, has announced (July 12, 2016) that Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division and Altor Fund IV have partnered and signed an agreement to acquire the business and its brands from the Altor 2003 Fund.

Navico is a major player within the recreational and commercial marine electronics market, with the intention to now leverage of the former and build a greater business in the latter.

Among a raft of innovative product releases in recent years are the award-winning Halo Pulse Compression Radar technology, StructureScan 3D sonar technology for fish finding, and B&G sailing chartplotters used to race around the world.

The company was originally created in 2006 from the acquisitions of Simrad Yachting, Lowrance Electronics and Brunswick New Technologies.

Navico says it has worked systematically to integrate the companies, consolidating seven product brands into three, six factories into one, and building one common technology platform. Today, Navico has approximately 1500 employees and its products are sold in more than 100 countries.

Navico recently launched the GoFree brand to drive development of cloud-based digital solutions and apps across its product range. As part of its growth it acquired Contour Innovations, a leading cloud-based digital mapping provider. Navico has also increased its focus on the commercial marine market and, as part of this, acquired both Maritime Information Systems’ and Consilium’s radar business.

Over the last 10 years, Navico has been actively developing new product lines for the recreational and commercial markets, launching one new product every 20 days, and the company says it has steadily outperformed its competitors and grown its market share since 2009.

"We are pleased that we will have the continued engagement and expertise of Altor who have supported our strong growth over the last 10 years. The company has grown from a merger of three smaller companies into a technological leader in the marine electronics industry," said Leif Ottosson, president and CEO of Navico.

"We are excited about the growth-opportunities that our new strong and dynamic ownership will enable us to pursue in recreational and commercial marine within both hardware and digital solutions."

"It has been a privilege to work with the management team in Navico over the last 1- years, building a great company, which is very well positioned for further growth," said Hugo Maurstad, chairman of the board of Navico and partner at Altor Equity Partners.

"The high performing recreational business is an asset that also can be leveraged to grow in the commercial segment over the next 10 years."

"Navico is a great company and its track record and speed of innovation is impressive," said Michael Bruun, managing director in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

"We look forward to working with the company over the coming years, supporting its organic and acquisition-based growth. The new owners contribute a financial capacity that allows the company to raise its growth ambitions going forward."

The transaction will be subject to customary regulatory requirements and approvals. We can't imagine the deal won't go through, or will have a bearing on supply chains, support or new product development, and would expect the fresh investment to kick things along even further for Navico's popular brands of electronics. More at http://navico.com.