M&A

CommsPlus Distribution and BTC Wholesale, two Australian tech distributors with 25-year histories, have merged operations to trade as CommsPlus Distribution (CommsPlus). The new company will offer unified communications and collaboration solutions, including end-to-end tech provision and support to its combined 500 plus partners in Australia and Oceania.

Fujitsu Ltd and Fujitsu Australia Ltd announced plans to acquire Aussie digital transformation (DX) consultancy, MF & Associates. This will strengthen Fujitsu’s management, tech and cyber security consulting capabilities within the public and healthcare sectors in Australia. Founded in 2019, Canberra-based MF & Associates is Fujitsu’s fifth acquisition since 2021 in ANZ, as part of a strategic global M&A plan to strengthen business delivery capabilities in key areas. MF & Associates will complement Fujitsu’s recent acquisitions of Microsoft specialist oobe and cyber security firm InPhySec to bolster Fujitsu’s security offerings in Australia.

Bacardi Limited, one of the largest privately held international spirits company in the world, has announced the completion of a transaction that makes the family-owned company the sole owner of ILEGAL Mezcal®, a global super premium artisanal mezcal. The transaction follows a successful relationship in which Bacardi partnered with ILEGAL since 2015.

J.D. Power, a data analytics firm, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Autovista Group, a pan-European and Australian automotive data, analytics and industry insights firm. This complements J.D. Power’s strengths in vehicle valuation and detailed vehicle specification data while broadening its footprint into the European and Australian automotive markets.

Tenable, the Exposure Management company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ermetic Ltd. (Ermetic), a fully integrated cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) company, and a leading provider of cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM). Tenable intends to integrate these capabilities into its Tenable One Exposure Management Platform to deliver market-leading contextual risk visibility, prioritisation and remediation across infrastructure and identities, both on-premise and in the cloud. Ermetic’s cloud-native application protection platform delivers in-depth contextual analysis in simple terms and reveals toxic combinations, like privileged access to publicly-exposed vulnerable workloads.

Aerial inspection specialist, Zeitview has acquired Heliolytics, which specializes in photovoltaic (PV) system performance via aerial inspection and integrated analytics. With this acquisition, Zeitview takes the lead in advanced aerial inspections for energy and infrastructure. Helioltics is former division of NovaSource Power Services. Most of its staff will join Zeitview, and the team’s presence in Toronto, Canada, will continue. The transaction cost was not disclosed.

Alchemy, the world-renown circular technology specialist, announced that it has acquired the Australian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) fintech numobile for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition marks the next step in Alchemy’s mission to expand its innovative range of services for the circular technology market.

New Quantum Holdings, a Sydney-based tech firm that created an innovative operating system for financial services firms, completed its acquisition of 80% of Morrison Securities Pty Ltd, the clearing, brokerage, and settlement arm of ASX-listed Sequoia Financial Group.

VertiGIS, a solution provider and software developer for geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial asset management, has acquired ibR Gesellschaft für Geoinformation mbH (ibR). VertiGIS also announced a business unit for land management which combines its expertise across the DACH region—comprising Germany, Austria and Switzerland—and a Berlin-based Innovation Center for SaaS/cloud development to serve its expanding clientele.

InMobi, a global provider of content monetisation and marketing tech that help businesses fuel growth, has acquired Quantcast Choice, a consent management platform (CMP) designed to help publishers seamlessly align with the changing global privacy regulations. This strategic acquisition further reinforces InMobi's commitment to bolstering its privacy management platform for mobile app and web publishers, empowering them to navigate the dynamic and intricate privacy landscape. As privacy regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) evolved, CMPs have become critical for publishers to ensure compliance and maintain ad revenue.