Page 8 - bne_Tech_07_2020

Investment
July 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Austria’s S&T buys Slovenian telecoms equipment company Iskratel
Austria’s S&T group has acquired Slovenian telecoms equipment company Iskratel Group for €37.5mn, the Austrian company said.
According to S&T’s press release, there are several synergies between the two companies’ operations, notably that while Iskratel is mainly active in Eastern Europe, it will gain access to Western Europe via S&T’s sourcing and sales network.
Meanwhile, Iskratel has moved into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) software and 5G areas, which for S&T represent “an optimal addition and strengthening of the S&T product portfolio”.
“The acquired 5G know-how and the solutions based on it can be linked, for example, in the smart industry area with established S&T products such as SUSiEtec. In addition, the 5G equipment of high-speed trains can be advanced and the transportation area strengthened, where
the S&T Group has already implemented projects together with Iskratel in the past, for example in Slovenia,” S&T said.
“We have been following 5G developments for
a long time, see broad applications of this technology and expect an advantage from
the strengthening of our product portfolio,” commented Hannes Niederhauser, CEO of S&T AG.
"Due to the synergies we will be able to increase the Iskratel result to over 10% Ebitda in the
next two years. With this acquisition, we are positioning ourselves even more strongly in the future for our focus topics of smart factories and train radio for high-speed trains.”
Kranj-headquartered Iskratel Group has more than 70 years of experience in ICT projects. In 2019, it generated sales of €115mn. It has around 900 employees.
CEZ investment fund sold minority stake in Israeli CyberX to Microsoft
Czech state-owned utility CEZ Group’s investment fund Inven Capital has sold its minority stake in Israeli industrial cyber security company CyberX to Microsoft, according to its press release.
“The acquisition of CyberX by Microsoft, one of the largest and best-known companies in the world, proves that the investment was
a well-thought-out move by Inven Capital. The
fund managed to multiply its original investment into CyberX in a short time. The fund thus fulfils its strategy of acquiring know-how from modern innovative companies connected with energy
and at the same time steadily valuing the invested funds,” said member of CEZ’ board of directors and director of the new energy and distribution division Tomas Pleskac.