Japanese conglomerate Panasonic has acquired US-based ITC Global to complement Panasonic Avionics, its Californian inflight satellite communications provider.
The group reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the transaction. A source close…
Japanese conglomerate Panasonic has acquired US-based ITC Global to complement Panasonic Avionics, its Californian inflight satellite communications provider.
The group reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the transaction. A source close to the company described it as a “significant deal”.
ITC Global provides satellite communications to the energy, mining, and maritime sectors and Paul Margis, president and CEO of Panasonic Avionics, said it was a germane acquisition.
“Panasonic’s acquisition of ITC Global highlights the natural alignment of customers across the aviation, energy, mining and maritime markets, all of whom require mobile broadband, high reliability, global coverage and responsive customer service,” Margis said.
Panasonic bought the company from Boston-based private equity firm Riverside Partners, which has owned ITC Global for the last four years and overseen a fourfold increase in sales.
Panasonic was advised by Centerview Partners on the transaction and declined to disclose any financial details.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Thompson Hine acted as Panasonic’s legal advisers. ITC Global hired Choate, Hall & Stewart to be its lead legal adviser.
Upon closing, ITC Global will operate as an independent unit of Panasonic Avionics and its founder and CEO, Joe Spytek, will report to Margis.
“Panasonic Avionics’ global capabilities and leadership in satellite-based communication will enable ITC Global to enhance our core service offerings to all of our customers,” Spytek said.
“This combination assures ITC Global’s long-term access to next-generation satellite technology resources and strengthens our ability to deliver optimal value and service to meet our customer’s current and future mission requirements.”
Panasonic Avionics’ satellite network covers 99% of all airline flight hours and 98% of all maritime traffic routes. It is in the process of adding high throughput satellite capacity.
ITC Global, which was created in 2001 and has offices in the US, Switzerland and Australia, serves customers at more than 1,300 remote sites across 70 countries and all the world’s oceans.
The group has also been using acquisitions to gain scale. It bought its EMEA-focused rival Newsat in 2013 to push further into the energy satellite telecoms market. A year before that it acquired Spidersat Communications, an Africa-based provider of satcoms services to the mining industry.
Panasonic’s acquisition came as its US rival Global Eagle Entertainment announced it had secured Ku-band wide beam and HTS spot beam capacity on three upcoming SES satellites: SES-12, SES-14 and SES-15, which are scheduled for launch in 2017.
