Advantech Acquires British Intelligent Display Company
Advantech has signed an agreement to acquire British Intelligent Display Company GPEG. After the merger, GPEG’s original management team will remain unchanged and will join Advantech Embedded Core Computing Group under the name of Advantech-GPEG. Advantech’s management sees this move as strengthening its position in the European market.
Advantech Chairman KC Liu stated that, “In view of the global trend toward Smart Cities and IoT, the intelligent display will be the most important user interface in the near future. Therefore, Advantech is very optimistic about development potential in the intelligent display market, and with the GPEG merger, we hope that we can accelerate product development, enhance sales strength, and lead market growth in intelligent displays.”
KC Liu further noted that, “Although Advantech already has sales teams and product development capabilities in Europe, it is difficult to specifically target customer needs until we are very familiar with the gaming industry in Europe. After the merger, we expect to draw on GPEG market development experience in the European gaming market and professional industry know-how, and combine these with Advantech’s existing global marketing and sales teams to expand the European intelligent display market.” Meanwhile, Advantech will also integrate GPEG’s product sales and design professionals with the resources of Innocore-Gaming, which Advantech acquired in 2010, to provide the European gaming market with complete solutions, significantly promoting Advantech embedded boards and overall revenue.
After the merger, GPEG’s former CEO Nick How and Sales Director Dave Webbing will continue leading Advantech-GPEG, cultivating gaming and application-specific display markets for customers in each vertical industry, and providing customized complete solutions to become one of Europe’s most influential intelligent display brands. GPEG was established in London in 2005 to supply specialized application displays, especially designing and producing intelligent displays for the gaming industry. GPEG annual sales have exceeded $18 million and their growth rate has been over 20%. Nick How commented, “We are tremendously excited about the opportunities for our customers, suppliers and employees that this merger will bring, the access to complimentary products, worldwide sales channels as well as the resources of a company like Advantech, paves the way for a very bright future for the company.”
