Legendary UK guitar amp maker agrees Swedish takeover

LONDON - Britain's Marshall Amplification, legendary maker of guitar amps used by rock icons including Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain, agreed to a takeover from Swedish speaker giant Zound Industries.

Zound will buy family-owned Marshall Amplification to create a new giant called Marshall Group, they said in a joint statement that gave no financial details.

"Marshall Group is born, bringing together rock'n'roll legend Marshall Amplification and Zound Industries to pioneer the future of sound and technology," the statement added.

The Marshall family will become the largest shareholder in the group with a 24-percent stake.

The price was "not disclosed" but the new group's headquarters "will be in Stockholm", a Zound spokesman told AFP.

Stockholm-based Zound produces wireless speakers and headphones, including under the Marshall name.

The deal, which includes all Marshall brands and subsidiaries, creates a group with combined annual sales exceeding $360-million.

Founder Jim Marshall worked as an engineer and a drummer and owned a London music shop before he began to build amplifiers in his garage in the early 1960s, before forming the Marshall Amplification company in 1962. He died in 2012 aged 88.

Rock legends Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend are also among those who used the London-born businessman's amplifiers in order to exploit the distinctive Marshall sound.

Zound chairman Henri de Bodinat, who will hold the same role in the new group, added that the deal will bring "even greater innovation and value to clients, employees, and investors alike".