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Mobile Solutions Groups Consolidate |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Wednesday, 15 August 2007 |
Two of Australia's largest mobile computing solutions firms have joined
to create a clear leader in Australia's mobile computing market. Sigtec
Group has announced it has completed a transaction to acquire
Brisbane-based Technisyst.
The transaction will position Sigtec as a A$35 million a year company
following its acquisition of Raywood Communications earlier this year. The copmany will have a focus on mobile solutions and ongoing service for the emergency
services, public transport, commercial transport and taxi operations
sectors,
Sigtec is majority owned
by Kestrel Capital, a Sydney-based private equity firm. It specialises in real-time wireless data solutions,
typically used in fleet management, vehicle tracking and related
services to the taxi and commercial transport industries.
Technisyst has two main product and service lines: public safety,
including mobile dispatch and vehicle tracking solutions for
ambulances, police and fire, and public transport, including mobile
monitoring of buses, trains, trams, and ferries, related real-time
passenger information systems and traffic light priority systems.
The two companies' expanding international strategies will also work to
the Group's advantage. Technisyst has recently begun exporting to
Europe, while Sigtec has set up sales operations in Dubai and the
United Kingdom. The formation of the larger Sigtec Group -
incorporating successful and complementary business units in multiple
regions - will drive ongoing growth opportunities.
Sigtec's Managing Director, John Thompson, said the acquisition would
mean several significant changes for the Sigtec Group, in terms of
market access and integration for the Group's various services.
"This not only grows our revenue substantially, it also effectively
diversifies our offering with complementary technologies and access to
diverse market segments for all our products and services.
"Technisyst is traditionally a more service-oriented company than
Sigtec Group has been in the past, so going forward, we'll be adopting
some practices from Technisyst to drive organic growth from our
existing customers. In addition, Technisyst's customer base of
government organisations and 'blue chip' corporations should provide
access to markets that Sigtec Group has not tapped thus far," Thompson
said.
Technisyst will remain at its offices in Brisbane, with limited changes
to company structure to accommodate the acquisition. The acquisition
means that Sigtec Group will now employ more than 100 staff in
Melbourne and Brisbane, and can focus on leveraging some of
Technisyst's high-profile projects, according to Technisyst's Chief
Executive Officer, Bill Delaney.
"We are currently expanding our RAPID Real Time Passenger Information
Systems in Auckland and Melbourne, and have recently commenced work on
the Australian Rail Track Corporation New Trains Communications
project, as well as deploying our first RAPID installations in Poland.
Becoming part of the Sigtec Group gives us the capacity to expand
further while also improving service our existing customers," Delaney
said.
"We'll spend the coming months bedding down these two major
acquisitions in Raywood and Technisyst, and focus on hitting our
earnings targets. It won't be long, though, before we'll be looking for
acquisitions again to bolster revenues in the long term.
"We're very excited about this acquisition. Sigtec Group has added
extra revenue, but also fantastic talent in Technisyst's existing
staff, a service-oriented company to add value to our existing
offering, a fellow leader across several diverse, but complementary,
market segments and a secondary base from which to launch further
R&D," Thompson said.
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