The acquisition, which was first announced December 11, 2023, has now been approved. This means that HMS Networks now has 1200 employees in 18 countries. Most staff are stationed in the U.S., Sweden and Germany.

What to expect
For HMS and Red Lion customers, there will be no initial changes. The HMS and Red Lion company names remain unchanged and product brands will be marketed and sold as before through the same channels. Production and shipping are handled from the HMS and Red Lion entities respectively. Contact details and email addresses remain, with the exception of India where Red Lion staff will get an hms-networks.com address.

Synergies ahead
Going forward, the merger of the two companies will provide many synergies, especially as it widens the American market for HMS and the European market for Red Lion. The greatest proportion of Red Lion’s sales comes from North America, through a well-developed distributor network that HMS will be able to utilize to drive sales of HMS’ gateway and remote access offering. With about 60 percent of its sales in the large automation markets in Europe and well-developed and targeted market channels, HMS will be able to cross-sell selected parts of the Red Lion offering in Europe.

“We are thrilled to welcome all new employees and valued customers of Red Lion to the HMS Networks family, marking an exciting new chapter in our journey. As we now jointly initiate the integration process, we look forward to leveraging our combined strengths, shared values, and commitment to delivering exceptional customer value. Over the next few quarters, our focus will be on ensuring a seamless integration and actively pursuing synergies between our companies. Together, we look forward to accelerating our position in the North American market.”, says Staffan Dahlström, President and CEO of HMS.