ETC and Barco announced today that they are in the midst of serious discussions
wherein ETC would acquire High End Systems. While the timeline for the completion
of this acquisition is still unknown, both parties are committed to moving forward
with a successful transaction.
Wim Buyens, senior vice president of Barco’s Entertainment division, commented,
“For Barco, the divestment of its lighting activities is in line with its strategy to
sharpen the focus on its core activities. We believe joining forces with ETC would
enable High End Systems to realise its full business potential while providing
ongoing support and opportunity development for its customers, and we appreciate
ETC’s commitment to maintain High End’s operations in Austin and fully support the
development of High End’s products.’
Fred Foster, ETC CEO commented today, “”ETC has been executing a strategy to
grow our company. We want to offer our employees opportunities for greater
success and continue to give our customers innovative products and services. We
see adding HES to the ETC family as an opportunity for both of those things. Our
plan is to continue High End operations from their current location in Austin, TX.
High End products like the Sola family of LED automated fixtures, Wholehog
consoles, and Axon media servers are innovative tools for the live-events industry.
Our intention is to make the investments needed in order to restore these products
and the High End brand to market-leader status.’
Foster continues, “We place a high value in not only the High End products, but also
the employees that will join our ETC family with the completion of this acquisition.
Both companies have similar core values when it comes to innovation and I know
working together will be a great success.’
More information will be announced in the coming weeks, once the acquisition
reaches final stages.
