Simrad buy Lowrance

Merger agreed between marine electronics giants

Simrad Yachting AS and Lowrance Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEIX) have announced today that Simrad Yachting has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Lowrance for USD 37.00 per share.

Under the terms of a merger agreement entered into by the parties, Navico Acquisition Corp., a newly formed wholly owned subsidiary of Simrad Yachting, will commence a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Lowrance at USD 37.00 per share and will complete a second step merger at the same price. The tender offer will be subject to a majority minimum tender condition and other customary conditions, but will not be subject to any financing conditions. After the tender offer and the merger, Lowrance will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Simrad Yachting.

The board of directors of Lowrance has unanimously approved the merger agreement, tender offer and merger and recommended that Lowrance's stockholders tender their shares into the tender offer.

Lowrance is one of the world's largest providers of marine electronics to leisure boats and has a particularly strong presence in the fish finders and GPS navigation systems segments of the market. In addition to marine electronic products, Lowrance has produced for over 10 years hand held GPS mapping products for campers and hikers as well GPS navigation systems for the automotive and aviation markets.

Darrell Lowrance, the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lowrance who founded the company in 1957 and is still its largest shareholder, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the combined company.

“I believe the merger with Simrad Yachting is in the best interests of our company and shareholders," said Lowrance. He continued; "The combination of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance will be able to leverage the technology and market position Lowrance has worked hard to develop over the last 48 years and will create additional opportunities for our employees and customers in the future. Simrad Yachting has a long history of providing high-quality marine electronics products to the commercial and high-end leisure markets and, through B&G, is the world's leading provider of steering equipment and electronics for sail boats. We believe the existing product lines of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance are highly complementary."