Navigation device maker Garmin Ltd. has announced that it had completed the acquisition of Electronica Trepat SA, the main distributor of its consumer products in Spain.

Olathe-based Garmin did not release financial details of its purchase.

Garmin said its distribution operation in Spain will be renamed Garmin Iberia S.A. Even after the acquisition, no employee of the Spanish company will be affected and the business will continue operations at its headquarters near Barcelona.

In addition to Electronica Trepat, the company’s primary distributor in Spain, Garmin recently has moved to buy its distributors in Denmark, France, Germany and Italy.

In a statement issued last week, Dr. Min Kao, chairman and CEO of Garmin Ltd., said, "The completion of our acquisition of Electronica Trepat is a further step in our ongoing strategy to strengthen Garmin's presence in key European markets through vertical integration."

Fernando Trepat, president of Electronica Trepat said "We look forward to achieving further growth of Garmin's sales in Spain and to realizing the benefits of full integration into the Garmin team."

Earlier in 2007 Garmin completed the acquisition of its distributors in France and Germany and on November 27, Garmin completed the acquisition of its distributor in Italy. On August 23, Garmin announced the signing of a letter of intent to acquire its Danish distributor. This acquisition is expected to be completed in January 2008.

Through its operating subsidiaries, Garmin designs, manufactures, markets and sells navigation, communication and information devices and applications -- most of which are enabled by GPS technology.

The company is a leader in the consumer and general aviation GPS markets and its products serve aviation, marine, outdoor recreation, automotive, wireless and OEM applications.

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Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.