Kingswood Capital Management LLC, an operationally focused, lower-middle market private equity firm, announced that it acquired Houston-based WAVE Electronics Inc. Kingswood will merge WAVE with its portfolio company, AVAD LLC. In bringing together WAVE and AVAD, Kingswood said it will create the largest value-added distributor of high-end audio, video, security and home automation solutions in the consumer electronics industry.

The new company will be focused on the residential and commercial custom installation markets. The combination of WAVE and AVAD delivers a benchmark solution to elevate same-day product needs, national one-day shipping and services for dealers and vendors across the United States and Canada.

Mark Fukuda, former chief operating officer for WAVE, will take over as the chief executive officer for the combined enterprise. Members of the new executive management team will include Bill Steckel as chief finance officer, Ainslie Fukuda as vice president of purchasing, Bryan Stewart as vice president of sales, and Jon Zabel as vice president of vendor management. Tom Jacoby, who had been serving as AVAD’s chief executive officer, will become chairman of the combined company.

Headquartered in Houston, the merged company plans to integrate its dealer services, including tech support, programming services, marketing services and dealer programs. “Both AVAD and WAVE have spent years perfecting the just-in-time distribution model and this rapidly accelerates our ability to bring our award-winning service and product solutions to dealers throughout the United States and Canada. AVAD has built a strong presence in the pro A/V channel, WAVE has done the same in the residential security space, combining that with our collective strength in the residential A/V markets and our new larger North American footprint is a winning combination,” Fukuda said.

Added Alex Wolf, managing partner of Kingswood, “The merger of WAVE and AVAD provides for a unique combination of scale and diversification in the North American custom-installer channel. The combination of WAVE and AVAD creates a multitude of growth opportunities from a wide base of 31 different physical locations. Industry integrators will have access to an industry-leading line card at more locations than ever before.”

Dentons US LLP and Goodwin Proctor LLP served as legal advisors to Kingswood. Stephens Inc. acted as the exclusive financial advisor to WAVE.