The biggest Aussie acquisitions and mergers of 2018

There was no end in sight for consolidation in the channel this year, with some of the Australian ICT industries biggest names getting involved.

Companies like DXC and Deloitte acquired multiple companies in 2018, while the announcement that TPG and Vodafone Australia would merge flipped the telco industry on its head.

These are the acquisitions and mergers that made the biggest impact in 2018.

CRN ran a similar article in June covering all of the channel's acquisitions and mergers in the first six months, so we have picked a handful of the most significant deals to include in this article as well.

Tech mega-merger Trimantium GrowthOps finally goes public

March

A new company was born out of the merger between eight companies, listing on the ASX in March under the name Trimantium GrowthOps.

The merger combined enterprise cloud and software provider 3wks, Asia-focused IT consulting firm Digital Moshi and mobile app developer Jtribe with five other digital, marketing and training companies.

“Through the IPO, 15 entrepreneurs have merged their eight successful, specialist businesses to create GrowthOps,” GrowthOps managing director Phillip Kingston said.

“Our clients want a single, accountable, execution partner spanning creativity, technology and leadership to solve complex challenges and develop new products, services and growth strategies.”

Read the full story here

DXC makes first acquisition of 2018 with M-Power Solutions

March

DXC Technology kicked off its acquisition spree in March by announcing plans to buy Australian Oracle cloud partner M-Power Solutions for an undisclosed amount.

Founded in 2003, M-Power focuses on enterprise performance management (EPM) and BI with over 60 clients in Australia and New Zealand.

DXC said that M-Power will be integrated into its own Oracle business, DXC Red Rock, to strengthen its own EPM and BI practice with Oracle cloud analytics offerings.

“DXC Red Rock is today the largest independent provider of Oracle cloud licensing, consulting and managed services solutions in ANZ," DXC Australia managing director Seelan Nayagam said.

"The combination of M-Power with DXC’s Red Rock practice solidifies DXC’s position as the undisputed leader in Oracle Cloud Solutions in Australia & New Zealand.”

Read the full story here

DXC snaps up Sable 37

April

DXC secured its second acquisition of the year with Microsft partner Sable37.

Sable37 was integrated with DXC Eclipse, the company's Microsoft Dynamics 365 specialist practice, along with eBECS, a global Dynamics partner that DXC also recently acquired.

Sable37 specialises in cloud-based solutions built on Dynamics 365, targeting customers in retail and distribution, homebuilding, food manufacturing and government. The company was founded by Alan Duhamel and David Attenborough in 2004 in Melbourne.

Read the full story here

Nexon Asia Pacific buys fellow Sydney MSP Cavalry

April

Sydney-headquartered managed service provider Nexon Asia-Pacific acquired fellow Sydney MSP Cavalry, as the former was looking to strengthen its hosted desktop, hybrid cloud consulting and managed services offerings.

The acquisition followed a partnership between the two companies spanning more than 12 years, with the combined companies’ expertise and “deep domain knowledge” set to bolster Nexon’s offering and deliver added value to both organisations’ clients, according to Nexon managing director Barry Assaf.

Read the full story here

AC3 buys Bulletproof

May

Following a back-and-forth bidding war over Bulletproof, the company's shareholders finally approved the $24.7 million takeover by AC3 in May.

The bidding war for Bulletproof was set off in November last year when Macquarie Telecom offered to buy the company for $18 million. AC3 swooped in with a more attractive offer for $24.7 million and as a result, MacTel let its own offer expire on 30 April, clearing the way for AC3 to buy Bulletproof.

Read the full story here

VentraIP makes triple acquisition, onboards 1000 new customers

May

Australian hosting provider VentraIP continued its acquisition spree by snapping up three hosting companies along with 1000 customers and 2400 active services.

The three companies were On A Cloud, Spiderweb Hosting and Boot Domains, which will all be folded into VentraIP once customers have been merged.

VentraIP chief executive Angelo Giuffrida said the company also had another three acquisitions in the works.

“As the market continues to consolidate, we are proud to welcome customers from On A Cloud, SpiderWeb Hosting and Boot Domains to the VentraIP Australia family, and we hope they enjoy the great customer service and technical support offered by our local team,” said Guiffrida.

Read the full story here

DWS acquires CRN Fast50 No.5 Projects Assured

June

DWS bought Canberra-based strategic management and IT consulting provider Projects Assured for up to $43 million, giving the Melbourne IT outsourcing company greater exposure to potential federal government clients.

Founded in 2015, Projects Assured established itself by focusing solely on customers in Canberra, predominately in government. Its services include strategy and business improvement, project and program management and enterprise architecture and technology.

Last year, Projects Assured grew its revenue by 158.4 percent to hit $17.7 million, earning the No.5 spot on the 2017 CRN Fast50. At the time, the company had 90 permanent staff.

DWS will pay $30 million in cash reserves and debt to Projects Assured upfront, based on an EBITDA multiple between five and six, with an additional $13 million up for grabs based on EBITDA performance over the next five years.

Read the full story here

Inabox offloads Anittel, Hostworks

August

Inabox offloaded its direct business to broadband network operator 5G Networks in a deal worth $5.7 million, which includes Anittel and its struggling Hostworks subsidiaries.

Inabox acquired managed cloud hosting firm Hostworks for $7 million in February last year. Nine months later, Inabox revealed that poor performance from Hostworks would have a significant negative impact on the entire group's financial performance.

As a result, Inabox was forced to cut 10 percent of its workforce in order to recoup $2 million in annualised cost savings.

Inabox bought Anittel for close to $10 million in November 2014, which gave Inabox the opportunity to expand its telco wholesale business with IT and cloud services.

The significant of this acquisition would become more apparent later in 2018 when Inabox sold its remaining business to MNF Group.

Read the full story here

TPG and Vodafone Australia announce blockbuster merger

August

The telco world was shook in August when Australia's third and fourth-largest telcos announced plans to merge.

TPG and Vodafone Australia agreed to create a $15 billion competitor to market leaders Telstra and Optus.

The “merger of equals” will create a company with more than 27,000km of fibre networks and 5000 sites, at least 8 million subscribers across Australia. The combined group will be renamed TPG Telecom Limited.

Read the full story here

Harris Technology sheds distribution business

August

Harris Technology sold its distribution business, Anyware, to Leader Computers for an undisclosed amount, which included approximately $4.5 million of inventory, the business name, customers and supplier databases.

Anyware provided the bulk of Harris Technology's revenue since the company went public in 2016, but chairman Andrew Plympton said it also contributed to the majority of losses in the past 12 months.

Harris pinned its poor financial results that year on Anyware, which it said had been successful in decreasing its expenses, but costs relating to warehouse leases continue to be an issue.

Read the full story here

Deloitte buys CloudTrek

September

Deloitte bought two tech companies in September, this first being Brisbane-based AWS partner CloudTrek.

The consulting giant took on CloudTrek’s 26 staff of cloud and infrastructure strategists, architects, DevOps automation engineers, developers and support engineers, joining Deloitte’s Technology, Strategy and Architecture practice in Brisbane.

Deloitte said the acquisition completed its more established AWS cloud migration and infrastructure businesses in Sydney and Melbourne, growing its presence to reach not only Queensland but also Western Australia and the ACT.

Read the full story here

Deloitte snaps up Mexia

September

Deloitte's second September acquisition was Microsoft Azure partner Mexia.

The Queensland-headquartered solution provider went on to join Deloitte Consulting's Technology Advisory Platform Engineering practice, according to Deloitte, with Mexia chief executive Dean Robertson and chief operating officer Mathew Coleman to become Deloitte consulting partners.

"Joining a successful, growing and broad-based professional services leader like Deloitte is a great move for our business, and one that will present great opportunities for our people," Robertson said.

Read the full story here

DXC buys System Partners

September

DXC wrapped up its 2018 acquisition spree in September with platinum Salesforce partner System Partners.

System Partners has specialised in Salesforce since its inception including consulting services, end-to-end implementation, managed services and governance.

The company said it has over 100 Salesforce certified experts based in Australia and has completed over 500 projects over the past decade, working across financial services, government, communications, media, utility and education industries.

Read the full story here

MNF Group acquires Inabox

December

Inabox shareholders agreed to sell the company's remaining indirect business to MNF Group for $34.5 million in December, four months after selling its direct business.

MNF made its offer in November, but SB&G swooped in with a rival bid before the deal could be approved. However, Inabox shareholders ultimately decided MNF's offer to be the superior one.

“MNF will now work constructively with the Inabox team to complete the transaction over the coming few days,” the telco’s statement read.

“The MNF board wishes to thank Inabox shareholders for their support of the transaction.”

Read the full story here