Phoenix Gold Grabs Carver

Last week, Phoenix Gold International announced its acquisition of the marketing assets of Carver Corporation, including the Carver name, along with plans to "actively rebuild the once highly regarded Carver brand, beginning with a full line of new consumer and professional audio products."

Phoenix Gold began its Carver quest when it acquired the company's Professional division in 1995, and it still manufacturers and distributes a full line of power amplifiers for the pro market. At that time, Carver Corporation continued creating and selling products to the consumer market, only to run into financial trouble and a NASDAQ stock delisting in early 1998. After a brief stab at direct sales, Carver eventually ceased operations upon filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999.

Phoenix reports that a final agreement on the present acquisition was reached with the US Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, WA on January 14, 2004. It authorizes Phoenix Gold to take ownership of the Carver name for a full line of consumer and professional products.

In a company press release, Phoenix Gold's Roland MacBeth states, "This represents the final step in a long process to develop a full-line product strategy for Carver, using the varied resources of Phoenix Gold International. Our engineering group and product development teams have a complete roadmap in place to rebuild this respected brand into an active, healthy, innovative participant in the audio marketplace over the next few years. Our intention is to re-establish the Carver tradition through a comprehensive collection of consumer and professional electronics products bearing the Carver name."

Phoenix Gold was founded in 1985 and is based in Portland, OR. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes products for aftermarket car audio, professional sound installations, custom audio/video, and home theater applications. Its products are currently sold under the brand names Phoenix Gold, Carver Professional, and AudioSource.

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