LONDON, UK: Accesso Technology Group plc, a UK-based technology solutions provider to leisure, entertainment, and cultural markets, has announced the acquisition of VGS, a leading ticketing and visitor management platform serving over 100 visitor venues worldwide.
The acquisition is for a total cash consideration of $52.6 million and the net purchase price is $38.5 million, with the agreement including $14.1 million of VGS’ existing cash reserves. The transaction is expected to be completed in the coming days. As part of the Accesso product set, the VGS platform will be rebranded as Accesso Horizon.
Accesso said the acquisition will substantially broaden its international reach, opening up new market opportunities. VGS’ customers include the world’s most popular theme park destination located in the United States, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in Egypt. VGS’ platform offers comprehensive language capabilities including Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese.
Accesso also said the acquisition will strengthen its blue chip customer base and provide expansion routes within these brands. It also said it offers potential to expand VGS’ powerful platform by leveraging the Group’s expertise to add transaction-based ecommerce, significantly enhancing the acquisition’s strategic value.
The acquisition will also increase efficiency while providing a product evolution pathway over the medium to long term. The convergence of certain product elements will improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and support profit expansion for the Group.
The acquisition will deliver immediate earnings accretion, as VGS is consistently profitable and delivered proforma PBT of approximately $4 million in 2022.
Steve Brown, Accesso’s CEO, commented: “I am beyond excited to announce the transformative acquisition of VGS, a business I have long admired and respected. The VGS solution fits squarely into our product roadmap and its top tier customer base speaks volumes for the quality, scalability and functionality of the technology.
Strategically, this addition of VGS immediately advances our business. It further elevates our brand, expands our product proposition, significantly increases our international presence, enhances our revenue diversity and presents extensive new opportunities for global growth. It also provides a fundamental building block for our mid to long term product roadmap.”
Paolo Moro, VGS CEO, said: “We are delighted to join Accesso, a company that shares our vision of providing innovative and reliable technology solutions to visitor venues. We are proud of what we have achieved with VGS over the years and we look forward to working with Accesso to further develop and grow our platform and reach new customers and markets.”
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