Harman to acquire Bang & Olufsen's car audio business

Harman International Industries, the leading global infotainment, audio and enterprise automation group, is to acquire Bang & Olufsen Automotive's car audio business. Bang & Olufsen sound systems are fitted in a wide range of Audi, Aston Martin, BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars.

As per the terms of the agreement, the two companies have agreed on a purchase price of 145,000,000 euros (Rs 1,108 crore) for the Bang & Olufsen Automotive audio business, as well as license payments for an exclusive license to the Bang & Olufsen and B&O Play brands within the automotive industry. Harman will take over all Bang & Olufsen Automotive customer programs, and all Bang & Olufsen Automotive development and production resources will be transferred to Harman.

“Harman has earned its leadership position in car audio by designing and engineering the most technologically sophisticated sound systems in the world and building the strongest portfolio of brands that help our customers distinguish their own unique brand propositions,” said Dinesh C Paliwal, Harman chairman, president and CEO. “Bang & Olufsen is a distinctive brand that will complement our existing premium branded offerings and strengthen Harman’s position in this segment. While Bang & Olufsen-branded solutions will continue at the top of the high-end luxury segment, we will rapidly grow B&O Play branded solutions in the larger mass luxury market.

“From the marketing, scale and technologies Harman will bring to the business, we will strengthen and grow the Bang & Olufsen and B&O Play automotive audio brands and, importantly, further improve profitability, which is now in line with our existing car audio business,” added Paliwal. “We are excited to realise the many synergies and opportunities inherent in this new relationship.”

 “In just 10 years, we have built Bang & Olufsen Automotive based on its exclusive brand and unique capabilities within acoustics, design and craftsmanship. Harman’s position as the market leader in car audio and infotainment solutions combined with the strengths of the Bang & Olufsen brands will create significant benefits for automotive customers, as well as for both companies,” said Tue Mantoni, Bang & Olufsen president and CEO.

Bang & Olufsen Automotive offers its partners car audio systems with superlative sound quality and listening pleasure for drivers and passengers. In addition to the company’s signature design excellence, its systems incorporate the radical synthesis of emotional appeal and technological performance. Most recently, Bang & Olufsen announced that its surround sound system is featured in the new Audi R8 (pictured above).

Harman’s portfolio of car audio brands – Bowers & Wilkins, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel – are fitted in over 25 million cars worldwide. Now with Bang & Olufsen, which was founded in Struer, Denmark, in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, two innovative, young engineers devoted to high quality audio reproduction, in its bag Harman’s presence in the global automotive audio market has become even bigger.