Consumer electronics repair specialist Regenersis (RGS) has announced the €60m (£50m) acquisition of Finnish data erasure software firm Blancco Oy. Regenersis says the data erasure market offers high growth potential – a claim backed up by Blancco's 25 per cent compound annual revenue growth over the past five years. The addition of Blancco will also mean Regenersis can offer its clients, which include the likes of Nokia and Samsung, a one-stop shop for their repair/refurbishment and erasure needs.
Blancco made €12.3m of revenue last year, which makes it world number one by revenue in its field. And a chunky 35 per cent operating margin on that revenue gave an operating profit of €4.3m. In order to fund the deal, Regenersis has undertaken a share placing, which was described by the company as "significantly oversubscribed". The placing raised gross proceeds of £100m and was priced at 345p, which represents a 4 per cent discount to the closing price the day before the announcement.
Research house Equity Development raised its target price for Regenersis by 16 per cent to 500p and said the data erasure market should offer "exponential growth" as smartphone and tablet shipments ramp up.
