The deal to sell Pioneer’s DJ equipment division has been inked, with private equity firm KKR acquiring all outstanding shares of Pioneer DJ for approximately 59 billion Japanese Yen – or about $551 million US dollars. Pioneer will retain about 15% share in the company and equivalent voting rights in the DJ manufacturer.

Interestingly enough, the motivation for selling off Pioneer DJ from the parent Pioneer seems to be motivated in an increased focus on car audio – something that isn’t especially compatible with high end DJ control surfaces.

“As we accelerate our efforts to concentrate management resources on our car electronics business, Pioneer has been seeking the optimal partner to further the globalization of our DJ equipment business and expand the brand.” – Susumu Kotani, Representative Director, President and CEO of Pioneer

The deal with KKR feels pretty similar to Allen & Heath’s sale last year to Electra Partners for $70 million – with a big investment group purchasing a successful DJ hardware brand from a company that wanted to focus on consumer audio devices instead (Denon – which later sold their DJ division to inMusic).

We had some pretty great speculation going on about the future of Pioneer DJ in our post about the potential sale of the division – if you haven’t read it, check it out here.