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 professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
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 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. The town is situated along a strait which separates the mainland from t ...
, Norway, and the group has manufacturing facilities in the United States, UK, Norway, Mexico and New Zealand.
Time line
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.
1955 Brookes & Gatehouse (B&G) was founded by Major R.N Gatehouse and Ronald Brookes (UK).
1957
Lowrance Electronics
Lowrance is a manufacturer of consumer sonar and GPS receivers, as well as digital mapping systems. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with production facilities in Ensenada, Mexico, Lowrance employs approximately 1,000 people. The company is bes ...
created by Darrell Lowrance (USA) and launched the first recreational sonar product for anglers – the Fish-Lo-K-Tor, also known as the ‘Little Green Box’.
2003 Simrad Yachting acquired B&G.
2005
Altor 2003 Fund acquires Simrad Yachting AS from Kongsberg Group.
2006 Altor 2003 Fund acquires Lowrance Electronics.
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.
2007 Navico acquire the marine electronics business of Brunswick New Technologies creating the world’s largest supplier of marine electronics for recreational boats.
2016
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
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.
2016 Navico expands manufacturing plant in
Ensenada, Mexico adding 50,000 sq ft.
2017 Navico acquire C-MAP, providing cartography products and services for all types of leisure boaters, from fishermen and sailing enthusiasts to powerboat owners around the world.
2019 Knut Frostad appointed as President and CEO of Navico.
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. Today, Brunswick has more than 13,000 employ ...
acquired Navico.
Brand summaries
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 chartplotters, navigation equipment, instruments, autopilots and radar, plus tactical racing software and other performance measurement and analysis.
Lowrance
Lowrance has been a manufacturer of fishfinding equipment and marine electronics since 1957. Lowrance delivered the first consumer
fishfinder
A fishfinder or sounder (Australia) is an instrument used to locate fish underwater by detecting reflected pulses of sound energy, as in sonar. A modern fishfinder displays measurements of reflected sound on a graphical display, allowing an oper ...
, the first colour fishfinder, the first sonar/GPS combo, the first digital sonar and grayline/colourline.
Simrad Yachting
Simrad Yachting
Simrad Yachting is a manufacturer of marine electronics for the leisure and professional markets. A member of the Navico family of brands, Simrad Yachting develops, manufactures and distributes navigation systems, autopilots, marine VHF radios, c ...
traces its roots back over seventy years ago when its founder patented new wireless communications for fishing vessels.
Simrad Yachting
Simrad Yachting is a manufacturer of marine electronics for the leisure and professional markets. A member of the Navico family of brands, Simrad Yachting develops, manufactures and distributes navigation systems, autopilots, marine VHF radios, c ...
is now a marine electronics brand which manufactures a wide range of instruments for recreational vessels of all sizes, from small runabouts and sportfishing boats up to luxury cruisers and superyachts. The Simrad Yachting range includes integrated high-performance navigation and information display systems with touch-screen and remote control, communications equipment,
autopilot
An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...
s, safety electronics and radar systems.
Simrad Commercial Marine Electronics
Simrad Commercial is an electronics technology for commercial vessels. 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.
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 provided 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 (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 and education in science and ...
in December 2020.
References
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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