So far, the industry scuttlebutt on the Milestone merger announcement yesterday that the AV industry’s leading screen manufacturer (Da-Lite) would merged with Milestone Technologies (parent company of Chief and Sanus – two of the leading ProAV and HomeAV mount and rack manufacturers, respectively) is nothing but positive.

And, from all angles it does look like a picture perfect merger. There’s virtually no product or technology overlap, they’re all leaders in their respective markets, they all use both AV dealers/integrators and don’t sell direct and all three of the companies have very respected industry leadership.

Well, I decided to go directly to the top yesterday and ask Milestone CEO, Scott Gill, some questions about this merger, the structure of it and what he thinks the effect will be in the markets. Here, below, is a Milestone Merger FAQ of sorts from that interview:

Is this a merger or a buyout? This is a merger and will follow the same path that Sanus and Chief did when they became Milestone companies. The brands will operate independently and as separate companies under the Milestone umbrella. Scott Gill is still CEO of Milestone and Rich Lundin will remain president of Da-Lite (and the Procolor brand) and Steve Durkee is still president of Chief andSanus.

What changes will we see in the distribution of the Milestone products? Simply put, none. Gill explained to me that all three companies are dealer-centric manufacturers and because of that they have a lot of credibility and loyalty with the channel – so no need to change anything. The three companies have very little overlap within their product lines so we may see some product synergies in the systems integration environment but all of it will be through the AV channel.

Will they merge the operations of the businesses? Nope. Each company will continue to operate independently. Although Gill didn’t specifically say this, I do think we will see some packaging of products from each company, where appropriate, to gain market share and awareness in the systems integration segment of the AV markets.

Any changes to the existing dealer channel? No

Will we see a Milestone mega-booth at InfoComm? No, again, each company will maintain it’s own brand and identity. Da-Lite will still be the big booth right in the entrance of the show and Chief will be right behind them.

When will the merger become finalized? The plan is for it to happen by the end of April.

So, what’s my take on all this? Well, I think this is a text-book merger. In studying the current Milestone line (with Sanus and Chief) and what Da-Lite brings to the table, the product overlap is literally less than 3% and they’re all ties very closely to the AV dealer channel. in addition, their company cultures are very similar. And, keeping them as separately run companies is genius. We’ve all seen and lived through the mistakes made by companies like InFocus and their destruction of the industry-leading PROXIMA brand some 10-years ago by trying to merge them into a low-end, box-house brand like InFocus. This is truly a merger of equals. Hat’s off to whomever envisioned this deal and to Judy Loughran, Rich Lundin, Laurie Englert and Ryan Hagberg for, no doubt, helping to push this through.