While any other company would still be trying to catch its breath, Spescom has completed its second international deal in as many weeks. The company says it has formed a strategic distribution partnership with US firm HCI. This comes hot on the heels of a $4 million acquisition of 60% in UK-based Altris Software.
The one-way deal with HCI, says Spescom group chief executive Peter Verwer, will see the Spescom-DataFusion flagship DataVoice range of digital voice recorders distributed in North America. Spescom recently acquired the outstanding 24% of DataFusion not under its control, to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary.
"Structures are now being set up to handle the business [in the US]," Verwer says. Although the hope is to derive substantial dollar revenue, the company does not yet know what its income will be. "We are still busy working on the budgets," he explains.
HCI is a privately held company, originally established as a telecommunications and consulting firm. It is a Lucent Technologies authorised end-user station trainer, while Spescom-DataFusion has a strategic alliance with Lucent. Verwer says the deal simply makes sense. "We have been actively looking for a partner in the States."
HCI is to be a value-added reseller, and Spescom will provide technical training both locally and in the US.
The earlier deal with Altris Software gave the Spescom group a 60% stake in the UK operation as well as 17% in the US parent company. The parent is still involved in court action brought by its shareholders who claim they were defrauded. The controversy saw the resignation of the company chairman and CEO, and could potentially increase the Spescom stake to 24%. According to the terms of the acquisition, a settlement between the company and shareholders must be ratified by the courts before 30 September, or the Spescom stake doubles.
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