- Production Resource Group, L.L.C. (PRG) and VLPS Lighting Services International, Inc. (VLPS) announced July 11th the completion of their
- merger. The merger, which was announced on June 11, 2004, has
- been approved by VLPS stockholders, and the regulatory review period has expired. A newly-formed subsidiary of PRG will be merged with and into VLPS, with VLPS becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of PRG. The combined company will operate as PRG Lighting, PRG Audio, PRG Scenic Technologies and Showpay, and will maintain its headquarters in New Windsor, NY. Terms of the transaction call for VLPS stockholders to receive approximately $8.32 per share in cash at closing, and up to approximately $0.50 per share payable from an escrow account established to pay for any indemnification claims. This totals up to around $20M for the purchase of VLPS by PRG. VLPS' sales in 2003 were $63.5 million.
- At the new PRG, PRG's Jeremiah "Jere" Harris will be chairman and chief executive officer and H.R. "Rusty" Brutsche III of VLPS will be vice chairman and chief technology officer. "This is a new beginning for our company," said Jere Harris. "We are taking the entertainment equipment and technology sector to the next level of development, responding to customer demands for more comprehensive production solutions available under one roof and new, more creative and more personalized approaches that bring productions to life. At the same time, we are bringing stability, resources and a stronger business orientation to an industry that is highly fragmented and under-capitalized. This is a very positive milestone for our companies, our employees and the industry. We will have the largest inventory of new, state-of-the-art production equipment in the world. And, we will provide timely and creative, integrated technologies to our customers in any venue worldwide."
- Rusty Brutsche added, "Integration of equipment technologies and services solutions is inevitable. Our clients are continually looking for increased efficiencies, and that requires companies like ours to have a depth of resources and be broadly responsive to their creative demands. The merger of our two companies will enable us to create and provide new technologies with a broad scope and economy of scale to better serve the needs of our customers. We're a people-oriented business and we will continue to be customer service and relationship driven. We will stay in the forefront of research and development; and, while we will have the benefits of being a large, well-capitalized company, we will also maintain the flexibility and responsiveness of a much smaller organization," he concluded.
- Plans call for PRG to maintain its headquarters facilities in New Windsor, NY. The new PRG has operating facilities located strategically in most major entertainment locations, including Chicago, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, New York City and vicinity, Michigan, Nashville, Orlando, Tokyo and Toronto, among others.
