Barco Strengthens Position in Full Color LED Market with Strategic Acquisitions in China and USA

Kortrijk, Belgium – March 31, 2003 – Barco today announces to have acquired assets of U.S.-based Trans-Lux West and China-based Beijing LEYARD Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., in order to further strengthen its position in the full color LED (Light Emitting Diode) display market.

Today Barco announces two strategic acquisitions for the Media & Entertainment markets. The company has acquired assets of Trans-Lux West Corporation, the U.S.-based (Logan, Utah) manufacturer of full color and monochrome displays, message centers and scoring systems for sports applications. Further Barco set up a joint venture with China-based Beijing LEYARD Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., a privately owned manufacturer that designs, manufactures and installs LED displays for the Asian market, with strong focus on China. The two investments confirm Barco’s strategy for continued growth in the full color LED display market by consolidating and expanding its presence in the key North American market and entering the fast growing Chinese market. The two investments are expected to deliver additional sales of more than 25 million Euro in the first full year of operation, thereby making Barco the worldwide leader in the full color LED application market.

Trans-Lux
Barco specializes in the design, development and production of visualization solutions for the media and entertainment markets. The company is already a recognized market leader in the Events and Rental & Staging markets and aims to become the worldwide leader in its other target markets, including the media and sports segments. The asset transfer of Trans-Lux West, which provides custom video displays, message centers and scoreboards to professional sports teams, arenas and universities, strengthens Barco’s presence in the key North American sports market. It further enhances its offer of customized and integrated visualization systems, thereby obtaining further market-share in this sizeable market-segment.

States Gary Glardon, VP Sales: “Trans-Lux West has a long and proud history of providing high quality custom installations to the North American sports industry. We believe that this new venture, which builds on that reputation and Barco’s expertise and excellence in full color LED displays, will improve our competitive position in the North American sports market as well as abroad”.

Leyard
With the acquisition of the complete full color LED assets of Beijing LEYARD Electronics Technology, Barco continues its geographical expansion into Asia and gains access to the growth market of China. The new 80%-20% Joint Venture, to be called Barco Leyard, allows Barco to take full advantage of China’s present booming economy as well as upcoming events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the Shanghai World-Expo 2010, all requiring visualization solutions offered by Barco Media & Entertainment.

States Mr Li Jun, Founder and President of LEYARD: “As recognized market leader with over 35% market share in China alone, we are confident that the new Barco Leyard joint venture will continue our growth within the Chinese full color LED market.” Mr Li Jun will remain at the helm of Barco Leyard in the role of President of the Joint Venture.

“The acquisition of Trans-Lux West and Beijing LEYARD Electronics Technology forms part of Barco Media & Entertainment’s long term strategy to become the worldwide leader in various LED display application markets,” says Stephan Paridaen, Vice-President BarcoProjection. He adds: “While we have already realized many high-profile installations both in Europe and North America, we can now consolidate our position in North America and also gain entry to China, one of the world’s strongest growing economies. The two new ventures will help us deliver differentiated total solutions, achieve world-wide market leadership in the media & entertainment markets and ensure the continued profitability of Barco Media & Entertainment on a worldwide basis, whilst also making Barco in its entirety less sensitive to fluctuations in the value of the USD.”

Barco Media & Entertainment offers turnkey visualization solutions to its markets. Barco’s LED display and projection solutions can be seen at the world’s leading motor shows, on stage with some of the world’s biggest stars and on buildings and in lobbies of some of the world’s foremost brands. As such the division has provided LED visual solutions to clients the likes of Clear Channel International, Merrill Lynch, Dresdner Bank, BMW, Toyota, Porsche, Daimler Chrysler, U2, Paul McCartney, Madonna, Bon Jovi and many others. The company’s LED display solutions have also been chosen to grace the Reliant Park Stadium (USA) that will host the 2004 Superbowl, as well as the the stadiums of FC Porto (Portugal) and FC Geneve (Switzerland), which will host the 2004 and 2008 European Soccer Championships respectively.

About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, is active in three key areas of imaging technology. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in almost 100 countries. Barco is quoted on Brussels/Euronext, is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company, and is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.

For more information, please visit www.barco.com and www.leyard.com

 

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