Kronach. – Loewe AG, Kronach, intends to acquire a majority interest of at least 75% of the shares of MacroSystem Digital Video AG, Wetter (Ruhr). The purchase price for the company now in "Planinsolvenz" (self-administered insolvency plan) is in the low single-digit million range.
Established in 1991, MacroSystem produces and distributes high-quality video and editing products as well as home entertainment products. It presently employs 43 persons and is active in both the German and international market. The company's sales in 2008 came to approximately EUR 5 million. Half of the employees are hardware and software engineers who develop products aimed at integrating diverse digital consumer electronics applications in a single multimedia unit. Such applications range from television and radio reception to film, photo archiving as well as Internet surfing. The company has built up considerable strength in this area in recent years.
In the future, MacroSystem Digital Video AG will primarily perform contract software development for Loewe while at the same time continuing its own business without interruption. "We expect the merger to significantly strengthen our development competence, particularly in the area of multimedia networking of Loewe home entertainment systems. The acquisition will support Loewe in consistently expanding its position as a leading premium brand for home entertainment systems in Europe," was how Loewe CEO Frieder C. Löhrer summed up the acquisition of MacroSystem Digital Video AG. In recent years, MacroSystem has systematically built up its home entertainment business line to include innovative product solutions, in particular Blu-ray hard disk recorders for digital television. Loewe now has a great opportunity to benefit from this know-how and build on it. This applies in particular to very powerful and customizable electronic program guides and also the simple editing and archiving of video, audio and image files. In addition, the platform provides the optimal basis for making further progress in the integration of Internet and television technology.