Broadcast Vendor M&A: Belden Buys Grass Valley for $220 Million

Devoncraft by Joe Zaller

Belden has submitted a binding offer to purchase privately held Grass Valley, a leader within the broadcast market, for $220 million.

The binding offer is subject to consultation with Grass Valley’s foreign labor works council, after which we will enter into a definitive agreement. Grass Valley provides innovative technologies including production switchers, cameras, servers, and editing solutions within the mission critical applications of broadcast customers. When combined with Miranda, the resulting end-to-end solution will be the most complete and compelling in the industry.

Grass Valley had approximately $290 million in revenue according to Belden’ press release, so the deal values Grass Valley at 0.75 revenue.

Even so, it’s probably not a bad deal for Grass Valley’s owner, PE firm Francisco Partners, which purchased Grass Valley from Technicolor in 2011 (closed in January 2011), for no money down, and an $80 million promissory not payable five years from the date of the deal.

Part of Francisco Partner’s deal to buy Grass Valley included an undisclosed additional pay-out if Francisco Partners sold Grass Valley for a partner in the future. Since these numbers are unknown, it’s difficult to know if the payments were triggered. read more...