A dozen of deals in Australia in the services sectors, in June

2. Banyan Software announces acquisition of Argus Tracking

Banyan Software, Inc., a company focused on acquiring, building, and growing great enterprise software businesses, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Argus Tracking, a company that provides intelligent fleet management solutions for customers throughout New Zealand and Australia. Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, Argus delivers integral analytics that fleet managers, operations, health and safety, and financial teams can utilize to improve business performance. The platform reporting tools allows the organization to pinpoint inefficiencies, streamline operations and keep an accurate set of records.

3. Syntheia acquires Motionize

Syntheia, a contract and data startup, has acquired Motionize, which also offers a Word Add-In that improves access to knowledge and provides drafting guidance to transactional lawyers.  The move to acquire the business first started in April 2022, after the two companies had been collaborating for the six months prior. Following this acquisition, Syntheia will be offering four distinct products – (1) an intelligent drafting recommender that surfaces precedent clauses while inside Microsoft Word, (2) a multi-document terms comparer that identifies variances and risks between contracts, (3) a self-sorting clause bank for knowledge management of contracts, and (4) a suite of data extraction and natural language processing APIs for legal documents.

4. Acquisition of Allpipe Technologies by Veolia

Veolia acquired Allpipe Technologies, a specialist Perth-based business. The deal will see Veolia water expand its network services activities to Western Australia, strengthening its position as the country’s leader in water solutions. The strategic purchase will see the two businesses combine assets and people, bringing new opportunities for sustainable water management activities. As an established provider of sewer network maintenance, Allpipe has more than a decade’s experience delivering trenchless solutions for local councils across Perth. Veolia and Allpipe Technologies together will continue the delivery of these activities, and create new opportunities to drive ecological transformation for customers.

5. Eliiza expands ML skills through otso.ai buy

Mantel Group, through its Eliiza brand, has acquired Otso.ai to expand its own machine learning (ML) skillset. Otso is a ML-as-a-service (MLaaS) provider that specialises in the enrichment and analysis of unstructured text data at scale through natural language processes and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Acquired for an undisclosed sum, Otso.ai will fall under the Eliiza brand from 1 July but will retain its own branding. Additionally, all staff will join the data science and engineering consultancy, including co-founders Samuel Irvine Casey and Sam Gaunt.

6. Eptec acquires two new companies

Australian owned engineering company Eptec Group announced it had acquired two new companies, Australian Marine Contractors Group (AMCG) and Corrosion Control Engineering (CCE). The company said the recent acquisitions are due to enhance Eptec’s presence within the defence and infrastructure markets across Australia and New Zealand by enabling it to offer a wider range of specialised services to its Commonwealth and State Government clients. As a specialist coating company, and a preservation contractor to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Eptec’s footprint in the Defence sector focuses primarily in servicing the RAN’s fleet of vessels, including Anzac-class frigates. CCE also offers Eptec the opportunity to provide additional services to its defence and infrastructure clients and will extend the company’s regional reach across the Australian and New Zealand corrosion protection markets.

7. CyberCX strengthens its position as a leader in cloud security in Australia and New Zealand with the acquisition of Tracer Cloud and Consegna.Cloud

CyberCX, Australia and New Zealand’s largest cyber security services firm, with a workforce of over 1,000 across the trans-Tasman, has today strengthened its position as a market leader for cloud security and solutions, with the acquisition of cloud specialist companies Tracer Cloud and Consegna Cloud. The acquisition of Tracer Cloud and Consegna, both well recognised for their deep expertise in cloud services, further bolsters CyberCX’s cloud security capabilities, bringing together a workforce of over 150 cloud security and solutions specialists.

Founded in 2017, Tracer Cloud is a cloud security professional services firm and a multi-cloud specialist, with a strong footprint in Australia, particularly across enterprise, federal and state government customers, and exceptional capabilities in AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and hybrid cloud technologies.

Consegna was founded in 2016 and has a strong presence across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in New Zealand. A specialist in AWS, Consegna has been awarded AWS Services Partner of the Year in New Zealand for the last two consecutive years and achieved AWS Premier Partner status in 2020.

8. MST Global set to join Komatsu family of companies

MST Global’s board of directors and senior management team are pleased to announce the agreement to sell 100% shares of MST Global (MST) to Komatsu Ltd (Komatsu). Over the past 30 years, MST has become one of the leaders in digital technology used in the underground mining sector and has helped customers build digital ecosystems with real-time insights. In the last 4 years, this growth has been accelerated by investing heavily in the business’ product suite and technology roadmap. With the release of HELIX and AXON, customers can take advantage of a real-time geospatial digital twin to advance their digital strategies for underground.

9. ReadyTech to acquire IT Vision at an upfront consideration of $23.1

ReadyTech Holdings has signed an agreement to acquire IT Vision, a specialist provider of local government focused technology. Upfront consideration of $23.1 million will be paid using a combination of 50% cash and 50% shares. Earnout consideration up to an additional $31.5 million (payable in cash and/or, subject to shareholder approval, ReadyTech shares) subject to achievement of certain revenue and EBITDA milestones within a four-and-a-half-year period following the completion of the transaction. IT Vision has more than 30 years experience in local government software, with 190 customers in Australia and 55 employees across locations in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

10. Merger creates new player in Australian AI and sensor market

A new player has emerged in the Australian AI and sensor technologies space, with the merger of two of Australia’s advanced technology providers, servicing defence, agriculture and mining. South Australian companies Consilium Technology and elmTEK have joined forces to form a new group. The merger is being backed by Pemba Capital Partners, supporting the new group’s ‘ambitious growth targets.’ The founders said the ‘synergies’ between elmTEK and Consilium make a ‘natural alliance’ that will enable the new group to increase its scale and capabilities in the delivery of large defence and space programs, and other sectors such as agriculture, mining, logistics, energy and infrastructure.

11. Five V-backed Automic Group buys investor relations firm Market Eye

Five V Capital-backed share registry services company Automic Group is acquiring investor and media relations firm Market Eye, in a deal that expands Automic’s suite of services. Market Eye had been doing the rounds looking for a buyer since April, with Geoff Levy’s Monash Private Capital in its corner, and had been looking for a price above $50 million. While the terms of the deal were undisclosed, it was made up of more than 50 per cent scrip, and the businesses are expected to collectively have a value of between $350 million to $400 million. The acquisition will enable Automic Group to add investor relations to its suite of services, as part of its vision to have a “full service” offering for listed companies, able to manage every aspect of shareholder relations.

12. Atturra puts $15M on the table for MOQ

Atturra has put in a bid to fully acquire publicly listed IT services provider MOQ Limited for $15 million in a move that could create “one of Australia’s largest IT services businesses”. The IT consultancy, formerly known as FTS Group, has offered to buy 100 per cent of MOQ’s shares for 0.05 cents in cash per MOQ share as part of a Scheme of Arrangement.  The offer comes as MOQ informs shareholders of its ongoing operational challenges and trading losses.  In particular, the Australian Securities Exchange- (ASX) listed company cited its unprofitable professional services contracts, although it claimed to have made “significant progress” on fixed fee arrangements.