Westermo acquires the Irish company Virtual Access
Tom Hughes (Former chairman), Philip Duffy (CFO)
& Henry Brankin (MD) from Virtual Access,
accompanied by Jenny Sjödahl (CEO, Westermo),
Per Samuelsson (CEO, Beijer Group)
and Joakim Laurén (CFO, Beijer Group)
Westermo, a business entity of the Beijer Group, has acquired 100% of Virtual Access Limited, an Irish-based technology company specialising in wireless industrial routers and gateways, and managed connectivity services for customers in the utility, traffic management and telecommunications sectors.
Virtual Access has 40 employees and operations in Dublin, with annual sales of approximately €12M (~130 MSEK). With the earlier acquisition of Neratec Solutions AG, a specialist in WLAN solutions used within the railway industry, this latest acquisition provides Westermo with an extensive industrial wireless portfolio to support remote data networking applications in a broad range of demanding applications.
“I am pleased that we today announce this second complementary acquisition to the business entity Westermo. We operate in markets where digitalisation is growing rapidly in an increasingly connected world and the acquisition of Virtual Access strengthens our position further”, said Per Samuelsson, president and CEO of Beijer Group.
“The acquisition of Virtual Access will strengthen Westermo’s offering to the power distribution and Utility markets, by providing an expanded remote access technology portfolio supported by our worldwide sales network. This acquisition supports our WeGrow strategy in a superb way. Virtual Access in Ireland will become the technology centre for cellular remote access solutions within Westermo,” said Jenny Sjödahl, CEO of Westermo.
“We are very happy to join Westermo and the Beijer Group. Westermo’s worldwide sales organisation will ensure further global market reach and our complementary technologies will create a strong offering to a range of industries,” said Henry Brankin, managing director of Virtual Access Limited.
The acquisition will have limited impact on Beijer Group’s earnings in 2019 and is expected to contribute in 2020 in line with Westermo’s profitability level.
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