Three professional audio veterans lead the management buyout: Digigram managing director Philippe Delacroix and Audemat-Aztec managers Daniel Werbrouck and Bruno Rost. Delacroix, Werbrouck and Rost will make up the new executive board of directors for Audiendis: Delacroix will become managing director of Audiendis, in collaboration with Werbrouck as production director and Rost in charge of special duties for the board.
Digigram founders and current majority shareholders, Philippe Girard-Buttoz and Marian Marinescu, will retire from operational tasks, a move they have been planning for several years. The pair will maintain a minority investment in Audiendis, and Girard-Buttoz will become Chairman of the Audiendis Supervisory Board. "The new capital distribution won't affect the internal organization of Digigram, Audemat-Aztec or Innova Son. Sales and distribution networks will work exactly as before, so our customers and partners won't notice the difference," Delacroix told us. "The advent of Audiendis will give the three companies the flexibility and autonomy that is necessary to meet objectives in their respective markets."
Digigram, led by Delacroix as managing director, is fast becoming a major player in the networked audio market for broadcast and public address, while preserving its position in the professional sound cards for broadcast market. Audemat-Aztec, formed on 1 January of this year, in a merger between Audemat and Digigram subsidiary Aztec Radiomedia and led by Rost as managing director, will reinforce its strong position in the measurement and monitoring market for radio and TV broadcast. Innova Son, led by Philippe Royer as managing director, will continue its rise in the audio mixing consoles for live sound market with an entirely digital offering. "The new holding company will facilitate the integration of new companies that might join the group in the future," said Delacroix.
The Audiendis executive committee will consist of the three directors and Bernard Mossé, Digigram and Audiendis director of finance and administration, Philippe Royer, Innova Son managing director and Gérard Malvot, Innova Son technical director. The new board of directors should hold approximately 20% of Audiendis' shares with Perfectis (60%) and the Digigram co-founders (20%) maintaining the rest of the shares. According to the agreement signed, Audiendis will launch a tender offer on the publicly traded remaining shares for Digigram.
(Ruth Rossington)
