Delta Sound in UK corporate acquisition

Delta Sound Dubai’s UK parent has acquired well-known UK pro audio production specialist Sound By Design.

The acquisition will provide Delta with greater access to a raft of London venues serviced by SBD, including the Royal Albert Hall, where it has been an in-house supplier since 1993. It also lists Somerset House, Kew Gardens, Royal Naval College, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Natural History Museum and Royal Courts of Justice amongst its other regular venues.

“Paul and I have been talking about this for about 15 months now, since we met at a party in Dubai that neither of us were invited to,” said Andy Callin, managing director of SBD. “We’d already come to the conclusion that it was what we wanted to do before the market started to contract in some areas.

“There’s very little overlap in terms of client-base, we’ve had a good working relationship for many years at a professional level, we’ve cross-hired rental stock and we’re not strangers to each other.

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The synergies extend to each company’s kit list, particularly in respect to their mutual preference for DiGiCo consoles.
Delta’s L’Acoustics and d&b cabinets and SBD’s Meyer and EM Acoustics stock will provide clients with greater flexibility when requesting kit.

Both companies will operate from Delta’s current heaquarters near Hampton Court in Surrey.

“We’ve been looking at market sectors away from our traditional ones and the venue market is something that has interested us over the last couple of years,” said Delta managing director Paul Keating.

“This is an area that we have also been developing, and have done so successfully in the last couple of years, but on a much smaller scale.

“The [merger] means that for some of our corporate clients, where budgets are tight, we are now able to step up and offer more than just specialised audio.

"Diversification is key at the moment and we’re all looking forward to being able to offer our clients so much more than we could before.”