Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:37 amKaman sells music division to Fender
Kaman Corps pares down as Fender moves into percussion
No sooner had trading begun this morning in the US than the Kaman Corporation announced that it had agreed a definitive deal to sell its subsidiary, the Kaman Music Corporation, to Fender Musical Instrument Corporation for $117 million. The sale is expected to be completed before January 1st 2008.
Kaman Music owns a raft of high profile MI brands, including Ovation Guitars, Latin Percussion, Toca hand percussion, Gibraltar hardware, Genz Benz amplification, and Hamer Guitars. Fender, too, owns some of the world’s top guitar brands, including Guild, Charvel, Jackson, SWR bass Amps, Tacoma, EVH products, and is the exclusive worldwide distributor of Gretsch Guitars. While Ovation and Hamer would sit very snugly into the current Fender catalogue, as does the Genz Benz brand, the purchase sees the Fender company, resurrected from near disaster in 1986 by Bill Schultz, make a large scale purchase outside of its core specialisation of guitars for the first time.
Kaman’s reasons for selling boil down to the corporation’s desire to concentrate on its massively lucrative aerospace and industrial distribution segments. “We are very pleased to have attracted a strategic buyer of Fender’s stature, and we are confident that KMC will have a bright future under Fender’s leadership,” commented Kaman’s chairman and CEO, Paul Kuhn.
Bill Mendello, the chairman and CEO of Fender Musical Instruments Corp was quoted as being ‘delighted’. “KMC and Fender have very similar cultures and the distribution expertise that Kaman Music brings to the music marketplace will complement and strengthen Fender’s growing operational excellence and ultimately offer dealers and consumers a better way to access a wider variety of high-quality music products and accessories.”
Edward Miller, the president of Kaman Music added: “The acquisition of Kaman Music by Fender forms the most dynamic partnership of manufacturing and distribution expertise in the music industry.”
With the deal subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, no immediate changes will be apparent anywhere in the MI trade, although Kaman distributes several high profile brands in the US, including Sabian cymbals, and the Kaman catalogue in the UK is represented by several UK suppliers, including JHS & Co (Ovation), Arbiter (Latin Percussion and Toca), and Sutherland Trading (Genz Benz).
Kaman Corps pares down as Fender moves into percussion
No sooner had trading begun this morning in the US than the Kaman Corporation announced that it had agreed a definitive deal to sell its subsidiary, the Kaman Music Corporation, to Fender Musical Instrument Corporation for $117 million. The sale is expected to be completed before January 1st 2008.
Kaman Music owns a raft of high profile MI brands, including Ovation Guitars, Latin Percussion, Toca hand percussion, Gibraltar hardware, Genz Benz amplification, and Hamer Guitars. Fender, too, owns some of the world’s top guitar brands, including Guild, Charvel, Jackson, SWR bass Amps, Tacoma, EVH products, and is the exclusive worldwide distributor of Gretsch Guitars. While Ovation and Hamer would sit very snugly into the current Fender catalogue, as does the Genz Benz brand, the purchase sees the Fender company, resurrected from near disaster in 1986 by Bill Schultz, make a large scale purchase outside of its core specialisation of guitars for the first time.
Kaman’s reasons for selling boil down to the corporation’s desire to concentrate on its massively lucrative aerospace and industrial distribution segments. “We are very pleased to have attracted a strategic buyer of Fender’s stature, and we are confident that KMC will have a bright future under Fender’s leadership,” commented Kaman’s chairman and CEO, Paul Kuhn.
Bill Mendello, the chairman and CEO of Fender Musical Instruments Corp was quoted as being ‘delighted’. “KMC and Fender have very similar cultures and the distribution expertise that Kaman Music brings to the music marketplace will complement and strengthen Fender’s growing operational excellence and ultimately offer dealers and consumers a better way to access a wider variety of high-quality music products and accessories.”
Edward Miller, the president of Kaman Music added: “The acquisition of Kaman Music by Fender forms the most dynamic partnership of manufacturing and distribution expertise in the music industry.”
With the deal subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, no immediate changes will be apparent anywhere in the MI trade, although Kaman distributes several high profile brands in the US, including Sabian cymbals, and the Kaman catalogue in the UK is represented by several UK suppliers, including JHS & Co (Ovation), Arbiter (Latin Percussion and Toca), and Sutherland Trading (Genz Benz).
