The global consolidation of telematics firms is continuing apace, as the big boys buy out the startups in an effort to acquire their technologies and assets and the middle guys merge together in order to better target the ever more saturated market. Today the news is that Pointer Telocation (PT) has purchased a 100 per cent stake of Global Telematics S.A. Proprietary Limited (GT), a commercial fleet management support company operating out of South Africa.
This certainly isn’t a case of a new startup being purchased however, as GT has been in operation for a long time, starting way back in 1997 when even the concept of telematics was new. However since then it’s helped businesses throughout South Africa realise the benefits of tracking vehicles at all times and has expanded its customer base over the past few years to truly earn that Global name. Today it serves management tools around the world to passenger transport groups, government logistics groups and construction, all of which is likely to give the new owner, PT, a significant boost to its revenue over the next 12 months.
Paul Roberts, Managing Director of GT said of the news: “I’m very excited to be joining forces with a growing global company in the MRM business enabling us to leverage our business opportunities, introduce new globally proven technologies and jointly grow the business going forward. This is good news for the Global Telematics team and our customers and will enable us to expand the business into additional territories in Africa.”
PT was unlikely to leave all the talking to the newly acquired telematics firm however and decided to put its president and CEO, David Mahlab front and centre for a statement: “We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our acquisition of Global Telematics S.A. Proprietary Limited. This acquisition is a strong demonstration of our strategy to expand our operations and services into new and emerging markets, leveraging our existing know-how and infrastructure. This acquisition will help us tap the growth potential in South Africa,” he said.
“Furthermore, establishing a presence in South Africa will serve as a gateway into the African continent, where we see significant opportunity through a strong need for growing businesses to better manage and track their vehicles and assets. In addition, we see an opportunity to leverage our technology solutions both in hardware and software, to increase synergies between the companies, to improve the marketing position of Global Telematics in the South African market and to take the business to the next level.”
No word was given on what the actual purchase price of GT was for Pointer, but it was presumed to be in the many millions.
About Pointer Telocation
Like Global Telematics, Pointer Telocation has been providing software as a service applications for customers around the world for many years. It’s been used for everything from fleet management, to asset tracking and road side assistance, with growth leading to business in almost every country in the developed world: Russia, USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Kenya, India and many, many more.
