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Navico is a marine electronics company providing navigation, marine instruments and fish finding equipment to both the recreational and commercial marine sectors. The Navico Recreational Marine Division is one of the world's largest provider of leisure marine electronic products. Lowrance is aimed at fishing, particularly in freshwater and near coastal areas. Simrad Yachting is focused on powerboat owners for cruising and
sportfishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit (economics), profit; or subs ...
and B&G serves the sailing market. The Simrad Commercial Marine Electronics division also offers navigation products for the commercial market, while C-MAP provides cartography and digital products to both recreational and commercial markets. Navico has its headquarters in
Egersund Egersund is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Eigersund municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The town is located along the southwestern coast of Norway, about south of the city of Stavanger (city), Stavanger. The town is situat ...
, Norway, and the group has manufacturing facilities in the United States, UK, Norway, Mexico and New Zealand.


History


20th century: Predecessors

In 1946 Simonsen Radio was founded by Willy Simonsen (NOR) leading the development of echo-sounding equipment. Simrad Yachting was born from the union of Simonsen Radio and other marine technology pioneers. In 1955 Brookes & Gatehouse (B&G) was founded by Major R.N Gatehouse and Ronald Brookes (UK). In 1957 Lowrance Electronics was created by Darrell Lowrance (US) and launched the first recreational sonar product for anglers – the Fish-Lo-K-Tor, also known as the ‘Little Green Box’.


21st century: Foundation and expansion

In 2003 Simrad Yachting acquired B&G. In 2005 Altor 2003 Fund acquired Simrad Yachting AS from Kongsberg Group. In 2006 Altor 2003 Fund acquired Lowrance Electronics. Also in 2006, Navico was created through the merger of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance Electronics by their common owners, Altor Equity Partners, a Swedish private equity firm. In 2007 Navico acquired the marine electronics business of Brunswick New Technologies creating the world’s largest supplier of marine electronics for recreational boats. 2016
Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
Merchant Banking Division and Altor Fund IV signed an agreement to acquire Navico Holding AS (Navico) and Digital Marine Solutions Holding AS (Digital Marine Solutions), owner of Jeppesen Marine, from the Altor 2003 Fund. In 2016 Navico expands manufacturing plant in Ensenada, Mexico adding 50,000 sq ft. In 2017 Navico acquired C-MAP, providing cartography products and services for all types of leisure boaters, from fishermen and sailing enthusiasts to powerboat owners around the world. In 2019 Knut Frostad was appointed as President and CEO of Navico. In 2021
Brunswick Corporation Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick has more than 13,000 employees in ...
acquired Navico.


Brands


B&G

B&G, formerly Brookes and Gatehouse, was founded over 60 years ago and manufactures sailing electronics for cruising and racing yachts. B&G systems are used by professional race boats as well as amateur club racers and sailing superyachts. The B&G range encompasses chart plotters, navigation equipment, instruments, autopilots, and radar, plus tactical racing software and other performance measurement and analysis.


C-MAP

Founded in 1985, C-MAP serves boaters worldwide, providing cartography products and services for all types of leisure boaters, from fishermen and sailing enthusiasts to powerboat owners. C-MAP worldwide cartography products and services include multiple formats for lakes, coasts, and oceans. C-MAP also provides products and services to the commercial marine sector. The majority of C-MAPs products and services for this sector were sold to
Lloyd's Register Lloyd's Register Group Limited, trading as Lloyd's Register (LR), is a technical and professional services organisation and a maritime classification society, wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research ...
in December 2020.


Lowrance

Lowrance is a manufacturer of consumer
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
and
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...
receivers, as well as digital mapping systems. Headquartered in
Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
,
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
, with production facilities in Ensenada, Mexico, Lowrance employs approximately 1,000 people. The company is best known for its High Definition Systems (HDS) and add-on performance modules which include Broadband 4G Radar, StructureScan with SideScan and DownScan Imaging, Sonic Hub Audio, Sirius LWX-1 Weather, and NAIS Collision Avoidance. Lowrance was founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1957. In 2006, Simrad Yachting and Lowrance merged in a deal valued at $215 million, creating a new company named Navico. In 2006, Lowrance was purchased by Simrad Yachting for $215 million. This merger went on to create Navico, now the largest leisure marine electronics manufacturer in the world. The Lowrance brand is wholly owned by Navico, a privately held, international corporation, Navico is currently the world’s largest marine electronics company, and is the parent company to leading marine electronics brands: Lowrance, Simrad Yachting and B&G.


Simrad

Simrad is a manufacturer of marine electronics for the leisure and professional markets. A member of the Navico family of brands, Simrad develops, manufactures and distributes
navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...
systems,
autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...
s,
marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-ai ...
s,
chartplotter A chartplotter is a device used in marine navigation that integrates GPS data with an electronic navigational chart (ENC). The chartplotter displays the ENC along with the position, heading and speed of the ship, and may display additional info ...
s,
echosounder Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...
s,
radars Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction (azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track aircr ...
,
fishfinder A fishfinder or sounder (Australia) is a sonar instrument used on boats to identify aquatic animals, bathymetry, underwater topography and other objects by detecting reflection (physics), reflected sound wave, pulses of sound energy, usually dur ...
s and a wide range of other marine technology. The Simrad name has been in existence for over sixty years. The brand was established in 1947 by
Willy Christian Simonsen Willy Christian Simonsen (13 September 1913 – 4 December 2003) was a Norwegian engineer and business founder. He was born in Kristiania as a son of chemist Einar Simonsen (1867–1918) and Alice Sophia Andersen (1877–1969). He finished his ...
, who set up his own wireless company called Simonsen Radio. Initially, he focused on the production of radio communications for fishing vessels. A few years later, he coined the name Simrad to encompass a wider range of activities – namely the design and manufacture of navigation, communication, auto-steering, and fish-finding technologies. In 1996 the Simrad Group was purchased by the Kongsberg Group which, following a decision to focus on the industrial market, sold the Simrad recreational product range to
Altor Equity Partners Altor Equity Partners is a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the DACH region. History The firm, which is based in Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is th ...
in 2005, creating Simrad Yachting. Simrad Group and Simrad Yachting are therefore now entirely independent of each other, with separate owners and distinct product specializations. It was the merger of Simrad Yachting and Lowrance Inc in 2006 that went on to create the Navico Group, now the largest leisure marine electronics manufacturer in the world. Simrad produces a range of navigation instruments designed to withstand challenging conditions and provide navigation solutions for both leisure boaters (via the Simrad Yachting range) and coastal mariners (via the Simrad Professional range). In 2008 the company absorbed MX Marine – acquired as a result of the takeover by Navico of the marine electronics division of Brunswick New Technologies Inc in 2007 – into its Simrad Professional line-up, further extending its position in the commercial
GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...
and DGPS sector. Over the past seventy years, they have developed systems for commercial vessels offering a range of radar systems, auto steering, navigation, and safety products for vessels of all sizes, from small vessels on inland waterways to larger coastal commercial and passenger craft.


References

{{Authority control Electronics companies established in 2006 Manufacturing companies of Norway Navigation system companies Companies based in Rogaland Fishing equipment manufacturers Marine electronics Norwegian brands 2021 mergers and acquisitions Norwegian companies established in 2006