The sound of diversification
Enthusiast PC component company Corsair quietly filed a Form S-1 with the SEC in the US at the end of last week. A Form S-1 is what companies positioning themselves for an initial public offering (IPO) file to provide information for potential investors.
These types of filings are typically lengthy affairs, and this was no exception, but they often yield some interesting bits of information about the company in question. While it remains to be seen how much money Corsair will raise through this IPO, the ‘proposed maximum aggregate offering price' is listed as $86,250,000.
Why now? We're not sure, although we imagine the global recession ensured it wouldn't be any sooner, but some of the reasons for the floatation become clearer in a part of the document entitled "Our Growth Strategy", in which it says: "...we intend to continue to introduce new categories of products to serve the computer enthusiast market."
Corsair has already been pursuing a strategy of diversification, resulting in a quarter of its revenues last year coming from gaming components and peripherals, as opposed to memory, from almost a standing start three years earlier. This IPO appears to be designed to accelerate that.
The form goes on to say: "We seek to expand our end-user base and end markets by introducing new peripheral products intended to appeal to consumers in the significantly larger mainstream PC gaming market.
"We intend to leverage our brand and apply our expertise with existing technologies, our product development capabilities and our knowledge of customer requirements in order to enter product categories such as audio products, which we are currently developing, and input/output devices that are designed to appeal to both mainstream and enthusiast PC gamers."
And it may not just rely in in-house development to break into these new markets. "The markets for some of our products are highly fragmented, with a number of relatively small suppliers, some of which may lack the necessary resources to market and distribute their products effectively.
"We plan to evaluate, and may pursue, acquisitions that diversify our product offerings and broaden our end-user base or expand our geographic presence. We believe there is significant opportunity to acquire one or more of these companies and, consequently, leverage our brand and extensive distribution channels to market and sell their products more effectively."
So what do you think, are you looking forward to using Corsair speakers or a Corsair gaming mouse? Let us know in the HEXUS.community discussion forums.
