HMS Networks acquires Red Lion Controls

(See HMS Networks at FoodManufacturing.Live, 1 May 2024, on stand 16)

We are very happy to welcome Red Lion into the HMS Networks family; the companies are a great match both when it comes to products, geographic presence, and cultural aspects, says Staffan Dahlstrm, CEO of HMS. The combination of Red Lion's product portfolio, which is complementary to HMS' offering and has limited overlap, and the geographic match with Red Lion having a strong position in the attractive North American market, and HMS with its core markets in Europe, will generate good cross-selling opportunities.

Red Lion's Access' products fit well with HMS' Anybus and Ewon product lines, while Red Lion's Connect' offering adds what HMS has been searching for several years: a strong Ethernet Switch offer with a strong market position. Finally, Red Lion's Visualize' offering brings new opportunities for HMS to explore the Data Visualisation offering that is becoming more and more interesting with its central role in the industrial automation environment and its ability to provide additional value on top of HMS' connectivity and network offering.

We are eager to start working together and to realise the synergies between the companies and to enable each other to take the next steps on our common future journey once the transaction closes, adds Dahlstrm.

The acquisition is expected to enable several cross-selling synergies of HMS and Red Lion, partly by capitalising on the different market channels. With the greatest proportion of Red Lion's sales coming from North America, through a well-developed distributor network that HMS will be able to utilise to drive sales of HMS' gateway and remote access offering. HMS, with about 60 percent of its sales in the large automation markets in Europe and well-developed and targeted market channels, will be able to cross-sell selected parts of the Red Lion offering.

Furthermore, the acquisition is expected to have R&D and product development synergies on several parts of both HMS' and Red Lion's offerings which will be explored further after closing of the transaction.