Even though its called a merger I think this may be more of an acquisition. In
a merger, both companies cease to exist and a new third company emerges. In an
acquisition one company actually acquires the other and the latter ceases to
exist. Its perhaps more of an academic difference that anything else and what
the future holds for both companies is uncertain. In the airline industry have
mergers created a better airline? I think most pilots would tell you no.
Perhaps it did allow two airlines who would not have been able to survive and
compete to continue to operate in a merged and usually more chaotic fashion.
I was surprised at how small both companies are. RF Concepts is by far the
smaller with 10 to 20 employees and just over a million in revenues. Ten-Tec
is the larger with 50 to 100 employees and about 5 million in revenues. Its
not unheard of but when a much smaller company acquires a larger, it usually
means there is an interesting back-story there. Likely we will never know
since both are privately held and finding financial information is very
difficult. To do an acquisition like this takes a lot of financing. There
must be a return on that money to make it profitable so any product that is not
returning on its investment, is gone. I would rather it had been Berkshire
Hathaway that had bought Ten-Tec.
Bottom line, if we were waiting for the new Orion III, there may be a long
wait. Its not impossible that it will someday arrive but the process of
merger/acquisition is usually so traumatic for both companies that all
resources are devoted to that end for at least a couple of years. Let's wish
both blue skies and fair winds and support our American manufacturers.
Tom KF5WBS
On Monday, May 12, 2014 10:05 AM, Steven Kline <skline4@verizon.net> wrote:
Yes. I received just a little bit ago Mike.
This will prove interesting.
Steve - W5JK
On May 12, 2014, at 9:55 AM, Mike Pagel, K9UW <k9uw@wi-net.com> wrote:
>
>
> Has anyone else seen this? I received it as an email newsletter from
> Alpha.
>
> 73, de Mike, K9UW
>
> ALPHA AMPLIFIERS AND TEN-TEC MERGE UNDER RF
> CONCEPTS BANNER
>
> LONGMONT, Colo.- May 9, 2014 - Announcing today the
> merger of Longmont, Colorado -based RF Concepts LLC / Alpha Amplifiers
> and Sevierville, Tenn.-based TEN-TEC Inc., RF Concepts Chairman Michael
> Seedman, AA6DY, declared the union the perfect combination of amateur
> radio brands. The merger creates a multi-million-dollar company with
> products that span QRP transceivers to full-legal-limit amplifiers and
> establishes an organization with the size and scale to continue to
> innovate into the next decade and beyond.
>
> RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers
> has been building amplifiers continuously since the early 1970s and has
> put more than 13,000 amplifiers in the hands of demanding amateur radio
> operators. Alpha Amplifiers are considered "the finest line of linear
> amplifiers in the world" by the ham community. TEN-TEC, founded in 1968,
> produces top-of-the-line receivers, transceivers, amplifiers and tuners
> and is known worldwide for the reliability and performance of its
> products.
>
> "For more than 40 years, Alpha Amplifiers and TEN-TEC have
> shared a reputation in the amateur radio market for offering
> exceptionally well-engineered, American-made products backed by
> extraordinary customer service," said Seedman. "Alpha Amplifiers is
> known for 'key down performance,' and TEN-TEC is known for pushing the
> boundaries of transceiver performance and capabilities.
>
> "The merger of
> these brands under the RF Concepts banner makes perfect sense," added
> Seedman, "not only in terms of creating a powerful product line, but
> also in terms of positioning our company for the future. This merger
> more than doubles the size of our business allowing us to invest more
> capital in innovative engineering and customer-driven product
> development."
>
> RF Concepts' operations will now be shared between its
> Longmont Colorado facility and its Sevierville Tennessee facility. The
> company is currently seeking a new operations facility in the
> Sevierville area to more efficiently house factory operations, part of
> the engineering resources, and technical and customer support services.
> The Colorado facility will house engineering resources, technical and
> customer support services, and much of the front-office operations.
>
>
> Both Jim Wharton, NO4A, who in January of this year took the reins of
> TEN-TEC upon the retirement of founder Jack Burchfield, K4JU and Ken
> Long, N0QO, who has been overseeing the operations at Alpha Amplifiers
> will be Presidents of their respective group, working together to build
> a strong, innovative company.
>
> "Ken and I have spent quite a bit of
> time discussing our short- and long-term focus over the last few weeks
> and I feel our responsibilities are very clearly defined.", said
> Wharton.
>
> "Jim and I have a lot of work to do to make sure the merging
> of these two brands goes as smoothly as possible." added Long.
>
> The
> merger announcement comes just days before one of the signature amateur
> radio events in North America-the Dayton (Ohio) Hamvention-where more
> than 75,000 hams are expected to converge on the Hara Arena Complex to
> discover the latest innovations in amateur radio. Both Alpha Amplifiers
> and TEN-TEC will operate separate booths at this years show (May 16 -
> 18). Both booths will feature new products and special offers to
> commemorate the merger. At booths 209-210 in the North Hall, Alpha
> Amplifiers will be demonstrating the soon-to-be released DreamTuner 4040
> Automatic Antenna Tuner, a graphically based, 4KW Autotuner. At booths
> 458-450 in the East Hall, TEN-TEC will unveil the Patriot, an open
> source, arduino-based SSB transceiver.
>
> About RF Concepts/Alpha
> Amplifiers
>
> RF Concepts/Alpha Amplifiers manufactures high-end linear
> amplifiers for ham radio enthusiasts. Based in Longmont, Colo., the
> company is known worldwide for its quality amplifiers. Alpha Amplifiers
> have been continuously manufactured in the United States since the early
> 1970s.
>
> About TEN-TEC
>
> TEN-TEC Inc. was founded in 1968 to provide
> beautifully engineered, well-crafted, well-supported and high-performing
> products to the amateur radio market. For 46 years the Sevierville,
> Tenn.-based company has passionately designed, crafted and tested
> premium products which have earned the company a solid reputation and
> loyal brand followers throughout the world.
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
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