GI Partners acquires Orbcomm
April 9, 2021
By Chris Forrester
New Jersey-based Orbcomm, which supplies satellite-based Internet of Things and M2M connectivity, is being bought by GI Partners.
GI Partners is paying a premium of some 52 per cent on Orbcomm’s closing share price of April 7th.
Orbcomm has more than 30 satellites in low Earth orbit, and has a list of blue-chip clients who use its connectivity to monitor and ‘talk’ to their equipment. The client list includes Caterpillar, Hitachi Construction, John Deere, Komatsu, Volvo Construction, Canadian National Railways, Walmart, Tropicana and Target.
It went through a Chapter 11 reconstruction in September 2000 and has since acquired a number of smaller businesses including StarTrak Systems, Euroscan, Skywave Mobile and Blue Tree Systems, and others involved in long-distance haulage management. Orbcomm also monitors maritime traffic movements via its well-known Automatic Identification System (AIS).
The announcement says: “The investment by GI Partners will support Orbcomm’s strong momentum in the industrial IoT as it increases its investment in sales, marketing and technology innovation to accelerate growth, execute on its long-term strategic plan and global market expansion, and provide added flexibility as a privately-held company.”
“This transaction will provide immediate and substantial value to Orbcomm stockholders, reflecting the tremendous commitment and work of our employees and stakeholders. The partnership with GI Partners will provide us the opportunity to rapidly advance our long-term strategy,” said Marc Eisenberg, Orbcomm’s CEO. “GI Partners has an established track record of working with companies to accelerate growth, and we look forward to continuing to drive innovation, providing world-class service to our global customers and expanding our market share in the industrial IoT as a privately held company,” the statement continued.
The transaction will close after the usual examinations, and Orbcomm then removed from the Nasdaq.