Colt eyes Asian expansion with KVH acquisition

Proposed £100m acquisition will be funded through Colt's cash reserves and bank facilities

Colt has today announced the proposed acquisition of 100 per cent of IT and communications service provider KVH for J¥18.595bn (£101.19m).

The acquisition will see Colt expand into the Asian market, with KVH having a presence in Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul.

Rakesh Bhasin, Colt's chief executive, said: "I am pleased to announce our plan to acquire KVH. It is a growing business, largely focused on network and datacentres in Asia. They have strong capabilities, a significant customer base and great assets, all complementary to our own.

"This partnership will enable Colt to offer our customers seamless solutions on a global basis and give us a solid platform for growth in Asia," he added.

The acquisition is to be funded through a combination of existing Colt cash resources and committed bank facilities.

According to a statement by Colt, the transaction will deliver annual cost and capex synergies of J¥1.22bn by 2017.

Colt operates in 23 countries and has a 46,000km European network including transatlantic network capacity.

Ted Higase, chief executive of KVH, said: "We are delighted to formally become part of the Colt family. The combination of our two companies will add scale, improve the competitiveness of both KVH and Colt, and be beneficial to all our customers."

Earlier this year Colt announced a partnership with Insight on a cloud platform.