Sepura completes deal for Teltronic, which does business as PowerTrunk in North America

Sepura yesterday announced the completion of its $139.6 million acquisition of Teltronic S.A.U., the Spanish professional mobile radio (PMR) company that does business in North America under the PowerTrunk brand.

“This is a highly complementary and transformational acquisition which will be immediately earnings-enhancing. It brings together two of the market's fastest growing players to create a leading digital PMR company with a broader offering and significantly enhanced capabilities,” Sepura CEO Gordon Watling said in a prepared statement.   

“Teltronic’s business will diversify our geographical reach, growing our footprint in Latin America and strengthening our existing presence in North America, specifically the U.S.; whilst expanding and diversifying our revenue streams accordingly.”

Both companies have gained traction in the U.S. market with their TETRA offerings, with Sepura focusing on terminals and Teltronic’s PowerTrunk providing subscriber units and system infrastructure. With the acquisition, Sepura enhances its position in the PMR market, according to Elizabeth Mead, senior analyst of critical communications for IHS Technology.

“The combination of Sepura’s terminals portfolio and Teltronic’s broad infrastructure and terminals portfolio will enable [Sepura] to offer a broader range of products for the LMR market,” Mead said in a statement e-mailed to IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “Undoubtedly, the acquisition of Teltronic also expands Sepura’s geographical footprint across Latin America, enhancing its existing presence in the U.S. TETRA market, and may significantly impact the competitive environment for TETRA terminals on a global scale. 

“IHS anticipates that the accelerated introduction of LTE / P25 products and a DMR product portfolio targeted at Teltronic’s customers in the Latin America region will positively impact the market and the strength of the two companies will enable an acceleration of products-to-market from [Sepura].”

Mead said she believes there will be more LMR mergers in the future.

“There has been increased M&A activity in the LMR market recently, although this is one of the first acquisitions we have seen on such a large scale,” she said. “Undoubtedly, there will be more in the future. There will always be smaller-scale acquisitions, but IHS believes that larger acquisitions may be on the cards within the next couple of years, as the market moves towards an LTE future.”