HMS Networks expands North American presence with Red Lion Controls acquisition

HMS Networks, a global provider of industrial information and communication technology, has entered into a binding agreement with Spectris Group Holdings Limited to acquire the Red Lion Controls business. This acquisition will significantly expand HMS’ presence in the North American market and complement HMS’ offering. Red Lion Controls offers industrial automation solutions.

The acquisition is expected to close during the first half of 2024.

“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. 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,” says Staffan Dahlström, CEO of HMS.

Dahlström adds that 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. Further, Red Lion’s “Visualize” offering reportedly brings new opportunities for HMS to explore the Data Visualization offering that is becoming more interesting with its central role in industrial automation.

The company shares in a press statement that sor HMS it is of strategic importance to strengthen its presence in the North American market and to improve its product offering range with products and offers that are specifically developed to meet the North American market demand.

The acquisition is expected to enable several cross-selling synergies of HMS and Red Lion, partly by capitalizing 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 utilize to drive sales of HMS’ gateway and remote access 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.