Latest Grass Valley Merger In The Books

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Jan 4, 2011 8:00 AM, By Michael Grotticelli

Maybe the fifth time will be the charm.

Nevada City, CA-based Grass Valley voiced that the give of its Broadcast
Professional business from Technicolor to Francisco Partners, a in isolation investment definite specializing in technology companies, is right away complete. Grass Valley had been on the marketplace given 2009 and, as an entity that reserve veteran prolongation equipment, is right away beneath its fifth authorized owner.

Dr. Donald Hare founded the company in 1959 in Grass Valley, CA, as an eccentric company that showed its initial product - a video placement amplifier - in a road house room at NAB. The company is right away once once again an eccentric company carrying out business beneath the traffic name Grass Valley.

Under conditions of the ultimate deal, Francisco Partners paid Thomson's Technicolor roughly $80 million (via a promissory note with a six-year manhood and temperament a capitalized fascination of 5 percent per year) is to Grass Valley business. An progressing company matter mentioned the amount of the note represents the worth of Grass Valley reduction the present worth of early retirement liabilities transferred. The treat has other provisions as well.

Terms of the sale add 100 percent tenure of the stream Grass Valley Broadcast Professional business. This includes the camera, calm repurposing, editing, chief control, modular, headlines production, prolongation automation, prolongation switchers, routing, and video servers product lines, inclusive its whole product portfolios, the RD centers and factories around the world, the sales and systems actions and patron encouragement group worldwide, together with the administration and organizational encouragement functions dedicated to the business.

Jeff Rosica, a one-time comparison clamp president, will pretence the purpose of boss of the new entity and keep probably all of Grass Valley's existing administration team. Rosica has settled that he would concentration on the company's core competencies in ancillary leading radio events around the world and building systemwide products that frequently work keenly together.

The Grass Valley business is no foreigner to new ownership. Dr. Hare founded the original video technology company in 1959, creation law video placement amplifiers and other vigilance estimate (tube-based) units. By 1968, the then-called Grass Valley Group introduced its initial video prolongation switcher - the Grass Valley 100.

The company fused with Tektronix in 1974 and was after that sole to in isolation financier Terry Gooding on Sept. 24, 1999, who reincorporated it beneath the name Grass Valley Group. Gooding subsequently sole the company - which enclosed switchers, routers, servers and other products - to France-based Thomson in 2002, and it was rebranded Thomson Grass Valley.

Thomson's Technicolor section put the Grass Valley Broadcast Professional business up for sale on Jan. 29, 2009.

The "new" Grass Valley has combined a special website to help customers and technology allies comprehend the specifics of the sale. The site contains a accumulation of press releases, FAQs, an open e-mail from Grass Valley management, credentials data on Francisco Partners, and more.

There's moreover a special e- mail residence for questions or comments.