Kenwood to acquire Zetron

Tokyo-based Kenwood Corp., the parent of Kenwood USA, announced yesterday that it would purchase Zetron, Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kenwood said in a press release that it is acquiring Zetron—which will operate as a Kenwood subsidiary, according to the release—in order to expand its business scope beyond supplying radios to providing turnkey system solutions.

Kenwood USA officials were unavailable today to discuss the acquisition, which is expected to close at the end of the month. A Zetron representative declined to comment on the transaction until it closes. However, when asked whether Zetron would continue to operate independently and produce products under its own brand, the representative said, “As far as I know, that’s definitely the case.”

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of an agreement between Kenwood and EADS Secure Networks—announced last week at IWCE 2007 in Las Vegas—that calls for the companies to collaborate on scalable, Project 25, or P25, turnkey systems for state and local public-safety agencies. Kenwood will provide P25 mobile and portable subscriber units, while EADS will provide IP-based, P25 digital trunked infrastructure.

Headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Wash., Zetron also has offices in England and Australia.