ST. LOUIS & MONTREAL—As part of its third quarter 2019 financial report, Belden announced its plan to divest Grass Valley as part of its portfolio, a move that Grass Valley described as a positive in its own announcement.
“We completed a rigorous strategic review of our portfolio of businesses, and today’s announcement marks an important outcome,” said John Stroup, president, CEO and chairman of Belden Inc. “We concluded that it is in the best interests of our shareholders, customers and employees to separate Grass Valley from Belden. This will enable Grass Valley to more effectively execute its strategic plan and pursue growth opportunities. Further, this separation will simplify Belden’s portfolio and improve organic growth and revenue visibility.”
With this divestiture, Belden will label Grass Valley a “discontinued operation” on its income statements. Grass Valley stressed in its own statement that this phrase does not imply the company is going out of business, but rather is a standard accounting term when a corporation decides to exit a portion of its overall business.
“The move is a positive for Grass Valley, its employees and customers,” GV’s own statement read. “Grass Valley is a market leader in the media technology business and a profitable operation with top quartile EBITDA performance. Grass Valley is the world’s leading media technology supplier with uniquely strong customer and partner relationships. This makes Grass Valley an attractive investment to those interested in the media tech space and Belden has been actively discussing options with interested parties during 2019.
“Grass Valley does not expect this announcement to disrupt its current operations and will continue to focus on meeting the needs of customers, partners and employees.”
Grass Valley’s history goes back to its founding in 1959, when it was known as Grass Valley Group. It was acquired by Thomson Multimedia in 2001, but was divested by Thomson in 2009 following the financial crisis of 2008. After that it was purchased by Francisco Partners. Then, in March 2014, it was purchased by Belden.
