IPTV content packager and distributor KIT digital (NASDAQ: KITD) has agreed to buy privately-held and Singapore-based Benchmark Broadcast Systems for $9.5 million--$5 million will be KIT digital common stock and $4.5 million in cash--to be paid over time. Another $1.1 million will be paid to Benchmark's employees over the next two years. The deal also includes corporate performance-based contingent considerations at the first and second anniversary of the transaction. KIT digital expects Benchmark to be immediately accretive on a cash-flow, EBITDA, and net profit basis.
Benchmark provides video asset management broadcast video systems integration to clients in more than a dozen countries. It forecasts at least $10 million in revenues during the next 12 months. Benchmark's clients include Astro, CNBC, Express News, ESPN Star, ETV, MediaCorp, NDTV, Reliance Mediaworks, Sahara, TV9, VTV and ZeeTV. The company has more than 100 staffers, and is headquartered in Singapore, with operations in Beijing, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, and sales/engineering presence in Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur and Taipei.
"Benchmark was a choice acquisition for us in a number of ways, and one which we have been working on for some time," said KIT digital's chairman and CEO, Kaleil Isaza Tuzman. "This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to the Asian markets and our determination to be the leader in video asset management in the BRIC markets. It also represents an extension to our existing IPTV systems integration capabilities--which support our larger-scale software implementations with broadcasters and network operators."
KIT digital closed the acquisition of Benchmark simultaneously with the signing on May 14, 2010.
KIT digital's client base includes more than 1,000 customers across 30-plus countries, including The Associated Press, Best Buy, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Disney-ABC, FedEx, General Motors, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, IMG Worldwide, Intel, News Corp, Telefonica, the U.S. Department of Defense, Verizon, and Vodafone. KIT digital is headquartered in Prague, and maintains principal offices in Atlanta, Cairo, Cologne, Dubai, Melbourne (Australia), London, New York, Stockholm and Toronto.
For more:
- see this release
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