ATLANTA & BOSTON & CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KORE Wireless Group, Inc. (“KORE”), the leading global provider of managed M2M communications services, today announced that ABRY Partners (“ABRY”) one of the most experienced and successful communication sector-focused private equity investment firms in North America, has acquired a majority interest in KORE. This investment, established in conjunction with the current KORE partners, provides growth and acquisition capital that will allow KORE to further its goal of creating the pre-eminent independent provider of broad-based M2M service solutions on a global basis.
As the first step in its broader strategy, KORE also today announced the acquisition, in an all-cash transaction, of RacoWireless (“Raco”), a company recognized for its experience and reputation for making IoT/M2M easy by providing end-to-end connectivity solutions. Following the completion of this transaction, the combined company will have offices in five countries and serve more than 3 million subscribers on behalf of over 1,500 customers using services in more than 110 markets around the world.
The combined organization is primed to deliver, in short order, an unprecedented portfolio of connected technology, location-aware solutions, and management tools in a way that has never before been experienced in the industry. The acquisition is subject to completion of certain regulatory and other consents, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.
“We are standing at a historic inflection point in our industry where scalability and innovation are critical, and the financial partnership with ABRY delivers the capital and expert support necessary to rapidly develop the scale demanded by global customers in what has so far been a fragmented market,” said Alex Brisbourne, CEO of KORE. “Strategic acquisitions both in advanced connectivity and richer applications solutions are an important goal, as scale and global reach are of paramount importance to our large applications and enterprise customers. These customers seek to leverage new M2M technologies that enable more efficient, innovative, and in some cases, disruptive business models going forward," he said.
This acquisition is a great fit between two companies that have been pioneers in this space,” said John Horn, President of Raco, who will become the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. “This is a unique opportunity that will redefine the IoT/M2M industry, and create a company that has the right scale and focus to shape the course of the Internet of Things.”
“We are delighted to move rapidly with this first step in our expansion strategy, and create further value for our customers and partners both nationally and globally, leveraging the integrated solutions that the company can deliver for their businesses,” said Brisbourne.
The combined company’s increased scope and scale will provide customers and partners the benefits of a more diverse, global footprint and access to an award-winning set of development and management tools.
“We have been closely watching this industry as it starts to take off on a global scale,” said Blake Battaglia, partner at ABRY Partners. “Our commitment to investing in KORE as an engine for global growth is, we believe, an indication of the opportunity within this industry space, and we are excited to be a part of facilitating this first step in the inevitable consolidation to take place as the market moves from its current nascent state," he said.
Both KORE and Raco have been independently recognized in the industry for many years around their exceptional technology platforms and tools.
About KORE Wireless Group
KORE is the world’s largest
wireless network provider specializing exclusively on the rapidly
expanding global machine-to-machine (M2M) communications market.
Operating under the KORE Telematics brand in the USA, and providing
solutions to enterprises and operators under the KORE Systems brand,
KORE provides unified control and management for cellular and satellite
network service delivery in more than 180 countries worldwide, KORE
empowers its application, hardware and wireless operator partners to
efficiently deliver M2M solutions for connected devices across the
globe. M2M applications in industries as diverse as healthcare,
utilities, enterprise IT, transaction processing and fleet management
rely on the KORE network to deliver operational efficiencies and
cost-savings. KORE offers a range of technologies — including GSM, HSPA,
CDMA EV-DO and LTE, as well as satellite services — that ensure the
greatest possible reliability and coverage. For more information, please
visit www.koretelematics.com.
About RacoWireless
RacoWireless (www.racowireless.com)
is a leading provider of wireless data solutions to the
machine-to-machine (M2M) industry. The company lives by its mantra to
‘make it easy’ by providing support for companies to build, manage and
enhance wireless M2M applications. RacoWireless can assemble a flexible,
end-to-end M2M wireless connectivity solution for its partners -
including delivering custom rate plans, tailored billing solutions and
customized wireless connectivity as well as helping them brand their M2M
applications and delivering 24/7 customer service. Among its numerous
awards, RacoWireless has been recognized with a Stevie® Award from the
American Business Awards as 2012's "Most Innovative Tech Company" and as
the "Entrepreneurial Company of the Year" by Frost and Sullivan.
About ABRY Partners
Founded in 1989, ABRY Partners is one of
the most experienced and successful media, communications, business and
information services focused private equity investment firms. ABRY
invests in high quality companies domestically and abroad and partners
with management teams to help build world class businesses. One of
ABRY’s highest priority investment initiatives is to identify and invest
in rapidly growing areas of communications, IT infrastructure and
managed services including M2M/IoT services, managed cloud and
networking services, unified communications and other broadband-oriented
services fulfilling the IT and communication needs of carriers,
enterprises, and application service providers. Since its founding, ABRY
has completed over $42.0 billion of leveraged transactions and other
private equity, mezzanine or preferred equity placements, representing
investments in over 450 properties.
