Barco has acquired a 61% stake in projectiondesign. The remaining shares of projectiondesign are held by minority shareholders.
The company said that the combination of Barco and projectiondesign creates a market leader in projection solutions for both large- and mid-venue markets, and that the transaction advances Barco’s strategy to expand into the mid-segment of its target markets and to strengthen its number one position in high-performance projection technology.
projectiondesign develops and manufactures compact projectors for a variety of professional markets including training and simulation, visitor attractions (museums, theme parks), scientific visualisation, collaboration rooms (corporate AV) and control rooms. The company custom-designs and develops all optics, hardware, software and industrial design for each projector model in-house.
Founded in 2001, projectiondesign is headquartered in Fredrikstad, Norway, and has 17 international offices. projectiondesign employs about 200 people and achieved sales of approximately €57 million in 2011.
“projectiondesign is a very well respected leader for projectors in the below 10k lumens range for professional markets,” said Eric Van Zele, Barco’s CEO and president (pictured). “The company enjoys an enviable reputation for combining innovative technology with leading design. This investment clearly underscores our determination to pursue global growth in all mid-segment markets. With projectiondesign, we will expand our portfolio to offer state-of-the-art solutions for the simulation, virtual reality and corporate AV markets as we continue to leverage our global sales coverage and our channels in Asia and Latin America in particular.”
Barco believes that projectiondesign’s product portfolio of projectors rounds out its portfolio of business, large-venue and simulation projectors. The two product ranges also complement each other given Barco’s historical focus on 3-chip DLP technology and high-brightness solutions for the large-venue market and projectiondesign’s focus on developing 1-chip DLP solutions for the mid-venue market.
The two companies also have complementary geographic presences: projectiondesign has a strong presence in Northern Europe while Barco has strong sales coverage in Asia, Latin America and Europe.
