LiveU has acquired its UK channel partner Garland Partners in a deal it says will being the company closer to its customers in a key market.
Financial details of the deal have not been released. A central part of the deal includes Garland’s staff moving becoming LiveU team members. Malcolm Harland, co-founder of Garland Partners, has been appointed as LiveU’s country manager, UK, and sales director, Northern Europe. Lorna Garrett, Garland’s other co-founder, is to leave the business.
According to LiveU, the acquisition will enable it to enhance its direct presence in the UK, as well as streamline its go-to-market and expand its portfolio offerings of multi-camera production and IP Cloud distribution solutions.
“Making Garland part of LiveU will ensure that we address our customers’ needs even more effectively with greater focus and agility. This acquisition underlines our commitment to deliver end-to-end solutions and enhance our customers’ lifecycles with a combination of best-in-class technology, a full-service guarantee and workflow flexibility,” said Avi Cohen, LiveU’s COO and co-founder.
“We see a centre of excellence and areas of expertise within the Garland team, which will help LiveU grow beyond the UK market,” he added. “The team, under Malcolm and Lorna’s leadership, has developed market intimacy, expertise with LiveU products, local support knowhow and customer relationships.”
Ronen Artman, VP of marketing at LiveU, tells TVBEurope the company currently has no plans to acquire other European partners, “but we regularly review those plans on a market-by-market basis. We will do what’s best for our customers, as we always do.”
Asked if LiveU plans to expand its UK footprint following the acquisition, Artman says: “We already had team members based in the UK, working across both the UK and Northern European markets. These are people that Garland has previously worked very closely with and now, as LiveU employees, will of course continue those relationships. We have an exciting year ahead in lots of ways so watch this space for further news.”
