D&M Holdings, former owner of ReplayTV, is looking for a buyer. D&M Holdings is the parent company of Denon, Marantz, Snell, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics, Escient, and other high-end AV brands. The two leading contenders to purchase D&M are Kenwood parent Bain Capital and Best Buy, with the a price of roughly $700 million. Best Buy has strong reasons to pursue the purchase:
As Best Buy is D&M’s biggest customer, it makes good financial sense for the consumer electronics retailer. The implications for the types of equipment that will be offered in their Magnolia shops would increase in number as well as quality. McIntosh has a near fanatical following, though being able to roll down to your local Best Buy to check out the latest tube amps is probably going to be met with mixed emotions.
If they’ve been planning this for a while, and most likely they have, it could be a contributing factor in their unloading of ReplayTV to DirecTV in December. ReplayTV was the odd-man-out in this grouping of companies, and probably would’ve been a sticking point in the deal.
Picked up via EngadgetHD.
