Datacraft Makes Offer to Acquire Integral Axon

Datacraft Makes Offer to Acquire Integral Axon
Creates major ICT player in the New Zealand services market

New Zealand, 6th October 2010 – Datacraft, a leading specialist IT solutions and services provider, announced today that it has made a conditional offer to acquire 100% of Integral Axon Computer Systems, a privately held IT services company which has gross assets of NZ$37,964,699, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to be completed by 1st November 2010.

Datacraft is a subsidiary of Dimension Data Holdings plc, a US$4 billion global ICT organisation which operates in 49 countries across five continents, and is listed on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges. This transaction follows the announcement in July that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) had made an offer to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Dimension Data for GBP 2.1 billion.

Datacraft New Zealand has been operating in the highly competitive outsourcing market for 30 years, is a dominant player in both CaaS (Communications as a Service) and Applications Development, and boasts deep expertise in the network integration and services space.

Integral Axon’s integration resources, together with Datacraft’s system integrator capabilities, are an extremely powerful combination that will enable both companies to provide clients with a full suite of services and solutions ranging from the desktop to the data centre, and accelerate growth opportunities in the public and private sector markets.

Robin Hartendorp, Managing Director, Datacraft in New Zealand said the acquisition was one of capability. Highlights of the transaction include:

• This transaction more than doubles the Datacraft New Zealand business in size and scale
• Integral Axon has a strong presence in Auckland’s commercial markets, while Datacraft has strong relationships with government and enterprise clients in Wellington
• The two companies have strong Applications Development businesses, little overlap in clients and geographies, and a strong focus on clients
• In New Zealand, Integral Axon is one of only five Microsoft Large Account Resellers (LARs), and the only tier one IBM licensing reseller.

“The acquisition will reposition our value from an integrator to become an outsourcing partner in our chosen market segment - second tier enterprise outsourcing.”

Datacraft CEO, Bill Padfield, commented: “What’s also very exciting is the move by many of our clients to managed infrastructure services and Cloud Computing. Integral Axon has already invested significantly in private Cloud-based Software-as-a-Service offerings. This represents a compelling Cloud proposition for our clients, and rapidly accelerates the execution of Datacraft’s medium and long-term strategy in this space.”

Integral Axon’s founder and Chairman, David Sutherland, said “The global footprint and resources, financial stability, and access to the combined expertise of Datacraft and Dimension Data – and NTT in the future – will be invaluable to our employees and clients.”

“We recognised that the synergies between Integral Axon and Datacraft are excellent. Together, we will lead a new industry standard for IT service quality, delivery, and support,” added Padfield.

ENDS

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