Live broadcasting tech company EVS has acquired infrastructure specialist Axon.
Axon generated EUR 17.5 million of revenues in 2019. The value of the transaction is set at EUR 10.5 million, plus an earn-out up to a maximum of EUR 2.5 million. The acquisition will be paid by cash and debt.
Axon has development centres in the Netherlands and the UK, more than 80 staff and a 30-year history .
The company has an international presence in the live broadcast infrastructure market, including mobile trucks and data centres, and a product portfolio that complements EVS’ existing live production offering. Axon has development centres in the Netherlands and the UK, more than 80 staff.
In early 2020, EVS’ instigated its PLAYForward program, a global company growth strategy to develop a broader offering of modular and flexible IP infrastructure. EVS says that integrating Axon’s product into its range will allow EVS to offer customers “the most extensive live production infrastructure on the market, enabling optimized resource management, greater scalability and faster deployment across multiple sites for remote live operations.”
The acquisition, the largest in EVS’ history, will allow EVS to provide an infrastructure solution that includes advanced IP processing, SDI/IP conversion, SDN-based control and monitoring, as well as UHD-4K and IP multiviewer.
“We’re extremely excited about the opportunities this acquisition will provide us and our customers over the coming months and years,” said EVS CEO Serge Van Herck. “Axon’s strong broadcast reputation and expertise, combined with our shared customer service-focused philosophy, make this marriage a perfect fit. It will enable us to deliver the most comprehensive media infrastructure solutions on the market.”
Axon CEO Michiel Van Duijvendijk commented: “This deal offers a major growth opportunity for both businesses, bringing together two innovative and proven product portfolios to form a unique end-to-end offering. We’re looking forward to joining the EVS team and working together to provide our customers with all the tools they need to power their journey towards IP-based media production.”
Benoit Quirynen, EVS’ SVP Strategy added: “In Axon, we’ve found an ideal partner. Its products match our vision of a centralized control model with distributed scalable resources. The company’s in-house expertise in FPGA and broadcast infrastructure, as well as other operational models, perfectly complement our research and development processes.”
Axon CTO Peter Schut concluded: “Our merger with EVS is a unique combination in the industry. With no overlapping products we will achieve maximum synergies. Our established Synapse modular infrastructure range has a proven track record in the most demanding applications, and the recently introduced Neuron Platform, the world’s first true Network Attached Processor designed for real time IP workflows, are perfect additions to EVS’ product range. Combined with Cerebrum, our popular, powerful and flexible control system, this adds the overarching control layer over both companies’ products. I can see a fantastic shared future for both companies.”
The Axon brand will be absorbed into EVS over the coming weeks and its product portfolio will be integrated into EVS’ global solution offering. The objective is to integrate Axon staff.
Jon Creamer
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