Ecotech and AquaIllumination merger

[Arkonen]

Just saw this come across the wire and figured it was interesting:

 

http://ecotechmarine.com/merger/

[AlanM]

Wow.  That's kind of a big deal.

[dbartco]

Was I the only one in the dark with this?

[Nytelighter]

Nope.  I was clueless on this one as well.

[Arkonen]

Their FAQ states nothing is going to change, but I am hesitant to believe that.

[LanksTank]

Their FAQ states nothing is going to change, but I am hesitant to believe that.

I don't believe that at all.  It is definitely a money thing and not a way for each of them to "improve and grow."

 

Its a little fishy (no pun intended) that they state they are still going to release separate products under a merger...  AI and EcoTech are two big competitors in the LED field.  Should be interesting to see how this affects cost of their LED fixtures in the future.

[smallreef]

This is very Interesting...with mergers someone is totally gonna fold...wonder which one needed it more...now to look up $$ and see

[howaboutme]

Thanks to alternative fixtures, it's easier to share red ink amongst 2 companies than 1.

[MBVette]

Most companies say they are not going to change things when the merger happens, then 6 months down the line suddenly there are major changes within the new organization.

[Happyfeet]

Their FAQ states nothing everything is going to change, but I am hesitant to believe that.

 

Fixed that up for ya

[Nytelighter]

Most companies say they are not going to change things when the merger happens, then 6 months down the line suddenly there are major changes within the new organization.

Exactly what I was thinking.  There FAQ responses seem way too good to be true. 

[OldReefer]

Seen a lot of mergers. This one looks pretty clear. AI is done. They just have not figured out how to merge operations yet so we get the " business as usual" FAQs.

[flooddc]

hmm! more like hostile takeover! One company will win and nothing good for the customer. 

[dipg]

a healthy competition among different manufacturers dealing in similar product is always good for end user so I am not sure how I feel about this merger.

[smallreef]

I think the loss will be really felt if they discontinue customer service for any of the lines..

The only thing I will be really sad about is how many jobs will be lost due to redundancy...I'm sure their operations are fairly similar so they can have a choice of skilled labor amongst both companies employee pool...

[Viktoriia]

I think the merger will distinguish more clearly your luxury line and your moderately priced value oriented.

[fscbishop]

Whats the point if nothing changed?

[smallreef]

Whats the point if nothing changed?

something in the accounting already has...but they want us to believe nothing else will,lol

[Jim Mc]

This kind of merger normally means higher prices for consumers other than that nothing probably will change.  Although if AI really does print their own circuit boards that does seem to offer an in-house capability to EcoTech that they didn't have before.

Edited February 25, 2014 by Jim Mc

[ErikS]

I see some synergy in this merge. As pointed out AI supposedly prints their own boards (never seen "made in......" on theirs), AI's lens tech is a bit better, EcoTech is far better at the UI end of things, and both offer decent customer service.  If one were to guess I'd figure they had to merge the LED business given the competition - they're still some of the pricier options around.

 

Who knows, maybe they'll get better.

[kngfisher]

Guess I am just catching this. Being a AI gen one owner I liked that AI offered their products as modular as they did. I upgraded my gen one to their sol blue setup and was thinking about their next modular upgrade options. Oh well. I guess I better call and get some parts for my 4 units before these are no longer a supported product. Been running the AI modules for 5 years.

Edited March 11, 2014 by kngfisher