Daily Deal
February 16, 2005

Duchossois Industries Inc. will pay $315 million, or $22.50 a share, to take AMX Corp. private, a major turnaround for a technology company whose stock two years ago was trading at less than $5.

"What's remarkable is that AMX three years ago was essentially illiquid with a $12 million market cap," said Eric Edmonson, a partner with San Francisco-based investment bank Seven Hills Partners LLC, which advised AMX on the deal. "The new management team came in and turned it around and has had a remarkable performance."

Terms of the agreement give shareholders in Richardson, Texas-based AMX only a 5.4% premium over the stock's closing price on Monday of $21.34 per share but a 28% premium over the 90-day average closing price.

AMX, which launched in 1982 by offering a wireless controller for 35 mm slide shows, today specializes in making touch panels that control everything from the security and air conditioning in luxury homes to the fountains in front of the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. AMX reported $86 million in sales for 2004 and a net income of $6.1 million.

Bob Fealy, chief financial officer of Elmhurst, Ill.-based Duchossois, said AMX's strong management and growth potential made the company a prime acquisition target, while declining further comment.

In a statement, AMX president and CEO Robert Carroll and Duchossois CEO Craig Duchossois said AMX, which gears its products to 13 separate industries, may use acquisitions to bolster its product line.

"Our market is expanding rapidly, and with the partnership it allows us to take everything and go after these expanding markets," Carroll said in an interview.

Fealy declined to comment on Duchossois' acquisition plans. The holding company once owned Chicago's Arlington International Racecourse and later sold it to Churchill Downs Inc. of Louisville, Ky. It also sold its railcar divisions to Trinity Industries Inc. in 2001. Another Duchossois subsidiary, Chamberlain Group Inc., is the world's top maker of residential and commercial door openers and makes other access control products.

The deal, which should be completed during the second quarter, will leave AMX headquartered in Richardson. Duchossois will preserve the AMX name and brand.