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Yamaha Acquires Boesendorfer
Manufacturing.Net - December 20, 2007
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Yamaha will become the new owner of famed piano maker Boesendorfer, an Austrian bank said Thursday.In a statement, BAWAG P.S.K. bank said it had reached an agreement with Yamaha over the sale of 100 percent of Boesendorfer shares. No price was specified.
Yamaha, based in Japan, issued a guarantee that it would maintain Boesendorfer's headquarters and production in Austria and secure the piano maker's future, the statement said.
BAWAG CEO Ewald Nowotny described Boesendorfer as a ''special company'' and appeared satisfied by the sales agreement.
''Therefore I am very pleased that with Yamaha, a strategic owner could be found, which is able to support the financial development of Boesendorfer and will continue the cultural heritage,'' Nowotny said.
Last year, Austria's trade union federation, Oesterreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, or OeGB, sold BAWAG to a consortium headed by U.S. private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management.
A trial is currently under way in Vienna that hopes to shed light on a controversy that began in March 2006 with revelations that BAWAG, the country's fourth-largest bank, had lost more than euro1 billion in soured currency speculation deals in the Caribbean.
BAWAG has also been linked to collapsed U.S. commodities brokerage Refco Inc.
Related Stories
Yamaha Calls the Tune in Fight for Pianos. [TimesOnline]Yamaha Outplays Local Competition For Bosendorfer [Forbes}
Holze Music Gains Lead Industry
August 2007 Holze Music Co., Inc., a Waco, Texas based business with locations in Dallas, lead the nation in increased revenues in 2006 by achieving $12,000,000 in sales. This represents a 100% increase over sales of $6,000,000 in 2005, according to the August 2007 issue of Music Trades Holze is ranked 35th among the nation's top retailers.
The increase in revenue is being credited to the captialization of vacated market share which came as a result of the bankruptcy of Brook Mays Music Group in July of 2006. Holze Music opened two stores in the DFW area soon after the bankruptcy announcement.
Top Ten US Retailers Announced
(Est. 2006 Revenues)
- Guitar Center, Inc. $2,029,000,000
- Sam Ash Music Corp. $445,000,000
- American Musical Supply $135,625,000
- Sweetwater $119,000,000
- FullCompass Systems, LTD $75,000,000
- Washington Music Center $62,000,000
- J.W. Pepper $61,000,000
- Schimitt Music Co. $53,000,000
- West L.A. Music $49,500,000
- Jordan Kitt's Music $40,000,000