Belden Inc has sold Grass Valley to private equity firm Black Dragon Capital, founded by former Avid CEO Louis Hernandez Jr.
The deal, which will be finalised during Q1 2020, will transfer full control of all Grass Valley assets to Black Dragon, which plans to leverage Grass Valley’s intellectual property and talent to drive innovation and lead the industry’s migration to a software-based future.
Financial details have not been disclosed.
Tim Shoulders will continue as Grass Valley’s president, with no immediate changes to the company’s management structure planned.
Speaking about the deal, Hernandez Jr said: “We see tremendous opportunity for transformation in the media technology market and believe that Grass Valley is in an ideal situation to lead the market through these changes. Under Belden’s leadership, the Grass Valley solutions portfolio has expanded and the business has developed a discipline that puts them in the upper quartile of the market in profitability. Black Dragon’s experience leading companies through digital transitions will allow Grass Valley to accelerate the next step in its evolution, bringing more innovative products to market faster.”
“Grass Valley has led the market in the transition from SDI to IP and has been diligently pivoting our product lines to Cloud-based and SaaS solutions,” added Tim Shoulders. “Black Dragon brings the expertise and vision that will allow us to accelerate this transition to the benefit of our customers who are looking for more robust and flexible models for content production and delivery. We’re excited to bring our customers along with us on this journey.”
