Hong Kong-based satcoms firm SpeedCast has bought US teleport owner NewCom International to enter the growing South American market, ending 2015 with its sixth acquisition of the year. The deal also strengthens SpeedCast’s North American operations with a base in Florida, an important hub for the yachting, cruise ship and government markets.
Hong Kong-based satcoms firm SpeedCast (ASE:SDA) has bought US teleport owner NewCom International to enter the growing South American market, ending 2015 with its sixth acquisition of the year.
NewCom owns teleports in Florida and Peru, providing integrated satellite and terrestrial solutions across South and Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and Africa.
As well as giving it a new avenue for growth with a direct presence in South America for the first time, NewSat said NewCom strengthens the group’s North American infrastructure through its base in Miami, an important hub for the yachting, cruise ship and government markets.
SpeedCast has been on an acquisition spree since being bought by private equity firm TA Associates in late 2012. The group’s M&A strategy initially focused on Asia as it sought to build scale, particularly in the energy and maritime markets. It has been diversifying and branching out geographically in recent years, securing a presence in the Americas in 2014 by opening up an office in Houston, Texas. To date, SpeedCast has around 27 international sales and support offices and 30 teleport operations across the world.
SpeedCast CEO Pierre-Jean Beylier said: “NewCom fills a gap in our capabilities and we can now state that we are truly global and capable of serving our customers wherever they are.
“There is a real growth opportunity for SpeedCast in the Americas that we will now be able to better realise.”
Like SpeedCast, NewCom serves all key satcoms verticals including government, telecoms, oil & gas, maritime, NGOs, aviation and mining.
The US-based group has been providing services for more than 25 years to remote areas of South and Central America, where the geography lends itself to satellite solutions. It has developed turnkey solutions ranging from telemedicine to education and disaster recovery.
SpeedCast expects to complete the acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, by Q2 2016. It hired Goodwin Procter for legal advice on the deal.
The group has been playing a major role in consolidating what remains a fragmented satcoms industry over the last three years.
Its last deal was announced in November, when SpeedCast bought satellite infrastructure player ST Teleport in Singapore, a key hub in Asia for the global maritime and oil & gas markets.
