MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems has acquired the assets of MRMC (Mark Roberts Motion Control), the UK-based developer of robotic camera systems and motion control hardware formerly owned by Nikon.
It’s been quite the bumpy ride for Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) since it was surprisingly sold off by Nikon in March this year. New owners Blandford Capital held onto it for a mere 57 days before liquidating the company, but there now seems to be a happy ending to the saga with MultiDyne purchasing the liquidated assets. These include MRMC's core technologies, intellectual property, manufacturing capabilities, and engineering team.
There is a lot of experience here. MultiDyne is celebrating 50 years in the business this year, and MRMC was celebrating 60 before its future suddenly became exceedingly uncertain.
As part of the deal, MultiDyne has established a new subsidiary, MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, which will continue to operate under the MRMC brand. MultiDyne also plans to maintain MRMC's UK operations, which will be a relief to many. Neil Maycock, a member of the MultiDyne leadership team, will serve as Managing Director of MRMC. The company says its priority is continuity for existing customers and ongoing projects, which is also good to hear.
In a statement hosted on the MRMC website, MultiDyne admits that the product portfolios have little overlap, but points out that they serve many of the same customers with complementary technologies. MultiDyne's fiber-optic transport, camera interface and signal processing products are used in professional production environments to move video, audio and data across complex infrastructure; MRMC's robotic camera systems, tracking solutions, motion control rigs and automated production technologies handle the physical movement and positioning of the cameras themselves.
It has to be said that the recent corporate backstory to all this is rather messier than MultiDyne's firmly upbeat announcement suggests. For a start, it looks like Nikon lost about $20 million in the process, and recent months since the sale have seen a few of the less usual corporate moves leading up to the MultiDyne purchase. No financial details have been disclosed, but Devoncroft Partners' analysts go into the figures in some depth.
“We refrain from speculation,” they write of the brief Blandford Capital tenure. “Rather, we cite a line from the iconic book Barbarians at the Gate, detailing the takeover battle for RJR Nabisco: 'What did any of this have to do with doing business?’”
In financial analyst terms, that is classed as a sick burn.
Hopefully, though, MRMC can now draw a line under a hugely turbulent few months and move on. We look forward to catching up with the team again at IBC.