D.D. raised the issue of the warranties on Raymarine products and whether they would be honored by Garmin, using the C-Dory example about which we have had so much discussion.
I think there is a much higher prospect for the Raymarine warranties to be honored as there appear to be some fundamental differences between the Raymarine and C-Dory acquisitions in spite of both companies being in some degree of financial difficulty at the time of their acquisitions, presuming that Raymarine does get acquired.
In the case of the 2 recent acquisitions involving C-Dory, it seems that the company was not acquired in either case. The company sold what assets it had -- brand, molds, work in progress, inventory, equipment, etc. The company retained the liabilities including potential warranty claims but there is nothing with which to satisy those liabilities. The new owners of the brand have to make the decision as to whether to honor any warranty claim that people bring to them. On legal grounds, they have no liability but for the protection of the brand, they make provide some level of support.
In the Raymarine situation, by every indication, the entire Raymarine company (the legal entity) is what is being acquired rather than simply the assets of the company. It appears, in the case of Garmin, that this would be a cash offer for the stock of Raymarine. If this is the transaction, then it is the company including all of its assets and all of its liabilities, including future warranty claims that is being acquired. The company continues to exist, perhaps in the short term, as a division of Garmin although eventually, Garmin may restructure itself to assimilate Raymarine. The acquired stock, representing the ownership of Raymarine, will likely be held by a special subsidiary of Garmin created to acquire Raymarine. The reason the Raymarine sale has to proceed in this manner is that there are public shareholders who have rights. Their equity in Raymarine cannot simply be taken. Now, if Raymarine were to declare bankruptcy, then the above analysis may not hold depending on how the bankruptcy process proceeds. I have not seen anything that suggests that Raymarine is contemplating bankruptcy as part of its sale of itself but you never know. The other thing that warrants a mention is that Raymarine is a UK company and the bankruptcy law is quite different in the UK than it is in the US so thinking about a BK in US terms is not useful.
This was the analysis I went through based on my professional experience when purchasing, last Saturday, a Raymarine C90W, A70D, 24 inch 4KW digital radome and heading sensor.
Hope this helps.
Jim
