u-blox acquires Fastrax, expands positioning market footprint

“Over its 12 year history, Fastrax has established itself as a successful player in the global positioning markets worldwide,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “Their modules exploit the best features of four leading GNSS chip vendors and include advanced antenna modules. These products are an excellent complement to our existing portfolio, and will benefit from u blox’ economy of scale in terms of our advanced R&D capabilities, semiconductor technologies, global sales channels, established supply chain and high-volume manufacturing resources.”

“Combining our leading GNSS products and technologies will give our customers a more attractive choice, while streamlining our operations and lower costs”, said Fastrax CEO, Taneli Tuurnala. “This merger brings together two recognized, profitable GNSS technology leaders with broad market base; the sum of this acquisition is significantly larger than its parts.”

The acquisition entails purchase of 100% of the shares of Fastrax Oy at a price of 13.0 million Euros. Certain pay-out rules apply to Fastrax management members. We expect revenue of around CHF 2 million and an EBIT of CHF 0.1 million for the remainder of 2012, and revenue of CHF 13 to 15 million with an accretive EBIT margin of 15-20% for 2013.

Web conference: u-blox will conduct a web conference call with financial analysts and media to discuss this news today, Tuesday October 30, 11:00 – 1200 AM, CET. Register Here.