MAC Group (http://www.MACGroupUS.com), a manufacturer and distributor of professional photographic equipment, has announced developments and future plans for its Tenba (http://www.Tenba.com) bag division.

After several years of partnership, MAC Group recently completed the final phase of fully acquiring the Tenba photo bag business and its worldwide patent and trademark portfolio from Robert Weinreb, who founded the pioneering company 35 years ago. MAC Group says it will dramatically increase its investment in the growth of the company in the U.S. and abroad, and has plans in place to expand substantially in both product scope and market share.

“We’ve grown our bag business over fourfold in as many years,” says Tenba and MAC Group President Jan Lederman. “The company is forecasting 2011 to be its biggest year by far, and is expecting the business to double over the next two years. This has been building for some time and, especially given the highly competitive nature of this category, is very exciting for us,” added Lederman.

Tenba is now in the middle of its first complete re-branding in its three-decade history. Logos, product aesthetics, packaging, websites and videos have all been changed to reflect the new direction and growth of the company.

Going forward, MAC’s product, marketing and distribution plans will put Tenba bags into the hands of a much broader worldwide audience, while staying true to Tenba’s and MAC’s core of working pros and the quality and innovations they have come to expect from Tenba bags, says Lederman.

He says Tenba’s growth initiative revolves around key elements, first and foremost of which are new products. The company — with the benefit of its own full-time design center — has dozens of products launching in the first half of the year, addressing the pro photo, serious photo enthusiast, video/HDSLR, and laptop/electronic categories. The company just launched its new Roadies II line of rolling photo/video bags as well as the VectorT collection.