Thomson Buying Grass Valley Group

French digital-broadcast product and system developer Thomson Multimedia said it has entered into an agreement to buy the Grass Valley Group, a Nevada City, Calif.-based, privately held digital media firm.

The acquisition, valued by Thomson at $172 million, will further extend Thomson Broadcast’s digital solution portfolio and strengthen its position as a key supplier of integrated and networked broadcast solutions for content providers, officials said. After synergies, Thomson said it expects this transaction to be accretive for its shareholders in the first full year of operation.

The Grass Valley Group offers hardware and software products in the digital broadcast equipment and Internet streaming markets. Its product include those for the creation, storage, manipulation and distribution of high-quality video content. Its installed base of servers, switchers, routers, modular products and digital news production solutions touch nearly 80 percent of the world’s television signals, officials said.

Grass Valley Group had revenues of approximately $200 million in 2000 calendar year, officials also said.

Grass Valley’s products include Emmy award-winning storage area network (SAN) systems and video servers, and Grass Valley Group’s expertise in video compression, storage, and networking technologies.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2002, Thomson added.