Adapt IT Group is looking at Wisenet for possible acquisition

ADAPT IT Holdings plans to acquire Wisenet Group and Wisenet SG for R53.42 million to grow its software presence in Australasia.

The purchase consideration for the acquisition is Singapore $5.2 million (R53.39m) with potential earn-out adjustments over the next three years, Adapt IT said yesterday. Adapt IT chief executive Sbu Shabalala said that the acquisition of Wisenet provided Adapt IT with an entry into the education sector in Australia. “Wisenet has a 20-year track record in the Australian market and has built a credible reputation as the leading cloud-based learning relationship management platform provider in the education sector,” Shabalala said. The group expected the acquisition to complement its education division’s growth strategy and would provide Adapt IT with access to key proprietary software, customers and markets in the Australian education sector. Wisnet was founded in 1997 and it operates in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with the main office situated in Melbourne, Australia. Wisenet has 22 employees who will remain with the business after the acquisition. Wisenet chief executive and co-founder Ben Hamilton will lead the business development efforts of Adapt IT in the Asia Pacific (Apac) region, including other Adapt IT products not currently sold in the Apac region.

Adapt IT, the JSE-listed information and communication technology ICT group, said Wisenet was a software-based business that develops its own IP and had an annuity-based revenue model, being SaaS subscriptions, which accounts for 90 percent of total revenue. All revenue is earned outside of South Africa in hard currencies.

The Wisenet Group comprises the business of Kura Holdings, Wisenet Information Systems, (Wisenet Australia), Wise.Net Corporate Trustee (Wisenet NZ), the business intellectual property (IP) and existing IP rights of Wakatipu Management. Adapt shares closed 1.54 percent lower at R6.40 on the JSE yesterday.