Brunswick giant Brunswick isn’t stopping its challenge to become the absolute leader in the boating industry and is preparing its $1.05 billion acquisition of Navico. Brunswick, the owner of brands such as Boston Whaler and Quicksilver in boats and Mercury Marine in marine engines, is poised to consolidate its position in the electronics market by acquiring another major group, Navico, which includes brands such as B&G, Lowrance, Simrad, and C-MAP. The goal is to integrate Navico’s know-how to create an increasingly connected, user-friendly, and therefore manageable boat with Brunswick’s industrial power.
Brunswick acquires Navico
Navico is a privately held company based in Egersund, Norway. The co-owners of the brand are Altor Fund IV and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Navico is among the market leaders in the manufacture and development of multi-function, fish finder, autopilot, radar, and chartplotter.
The reasons for Brunswick’s acquisition? It’s quickly stated: Navico’s revenue from May 2020 to May 2021 was $470 million with significant revenue growth. The efficient business model attracted the attention of Brunswick, which with its P&A (Parts and Accessories) segment has revenues of about $1.5 billion. With this acquisition, Brunswick’s goal is to hit $2.0 billion in sales with the parts and accessories segment alone.
“After a strong period of growth, we are very excited to join the Brunswick family to further strengthen our offerings and support our customers in the future,” said Knut Frostad, President and CEO of Navico.
“The acquisition of Navico and its award-winning brands will immediately accelerate Brunswick’s ACES (Autonomy, Connectivity, Electrification, and Shared-Access) strategy and support our vision of delivering distinctive new products and technology-enabled experiences,” said Dave Foulkes, CEO of Brunswick Corporation.
Brunswick-Navico: details of the acquisition
Brunswick will use a combination of debt and cash on its balance sheet to fund the acquisition. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021 and will be subject to closing conditions as well as regulatory review and approval.
