Aspen Avionics announced this week that it has acquired Accord Technology, a U.S.-based company that supplies certified GPS receivers for the aviation market, mostly for use in mandate-compliant ADS-B equipment. Accord has been an assembly and distribution arm for Accord India, which develops and manufactures GPS receivers for a broad range of markets.
Aspen’s John Uczekaj said the acquisition, which was completed on June 19, will give the company a position in the growing ADS-B market and will provide it technical leverage to develop new products using Accord India’s technology. But Uczekaj told AVweb on Tuesday that it’s too soon to say what those products might be. For the time being, the acquisition gives Aspen some product, revenue and staff growth.
The terms of the purchase weren’t revealed, but NEXA Capital Partners, the company providing funding for ADS-B upgrades, supplied merger and acquisition financial advisory services to Aspen to get the deal closed. Accord Technology will remain at its Phoenix, Arizona, location and Hal Adams, who founded Accord Technology and AvValues, a holding company, will stay on as vice president of business development.
Primary manufacturing of GPS chips and boards is done in India while the Phoenix operation serves as an assembly, marketing and service arm. It will now operate as an Aspen company. The WAAS GPS equipment is certified under TSO C-145c. Accord was founded in 2008, while the Accord Software and Systems was founded in 1991 by five technologists in Bangalore, India.
