Simrad Bv News

Simrad has purchased the Dutch distributor Bennex Holland BV. The sale took place on July 1, 2003 and as of September 2003, Bennex Holland BV becomes Simrad BV. Willem Koopmans assumed the position of General Manager from 21st August 2003, with a staff of 22. Bennex Holland has been the distributor for Simrad products in the BeNeLux region for several years and has developed a strong market position for Simrad in that area. On the retirement of company owner Wil van Druten it was deemed a natural progression for Simrad to acquire the company and integrate it fully into its own sales and service infrastructure.

After the successful delivery of two Kongsberg hydrographic systems for the HOV vessels, Simrad BV has now received an order for delivery of a Kongsberg EN 250 single beam echo sounder with spare parts and custom developed interface for connecting four 50 kHz transducers with special interfacing to the on-board computer systems. This special interface contains data information and indicate which transducer is connected to the echo sounder system. All over many years has Simrad BV developed special interfacing for several applications inside acoustical systems for the Royal Dutch Navy. The system was delivered October 2003.

Simrad, Inc., a subsidiary of the Kongsberg Group and U.S./Canadian distributor for Simrad marine electronics, announced that Kongsberg has sold the company to Altor, a Nordic investment fund. The sale involved all four European Simrad factories, the holding company Simrad AS and distribution companies in addition to Simrad, Inc. including Simrad AB (Sweden), Simrad GmbH (Germany), Simrad SA (France), Simrad BV (the Netherlands) Simrad Srl (Italy), and Simrad Canada Ltd. “We view this as a very positive development for Simrad, Inc. and the marine electronics industry in North America,” said Brian Staton, President of Simrad, Inc. “This will result in a fresh wave of investment in our important recreational yachting and commercial markets.