CentralNic acquires international domain name retailer Ideegeo for $5.2mn
LONDON: CentralNic Group has completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of Ideegeo Group Limited for $5.2 million of which $520,000 constitutes a deferred payment, held in escrow until May 2021, a release issued to London Stock Exchange (LSE) noted.
CentralNic is the global internet platform that derives revenue from the subscription sales of domain names and other ancillary services. Ideegeo is a privately owned domain name retailer serving an international customer base from New Zealand.
The acquisition is both strategic and earnings accretive to CentralNic. Ideegeo is operator of the retail website iwantmyname.com – a leading innovator in the application of User Centered Design to the retailing of domain names with 180,000 domains under management.
The acquisition, CentralNic’s fifth in twelve months, is expected to be immediately earnings accretive.
The Company intends to deploy the design solutions developed by Ideegeo across its retail websites, noting that high usability is particularly ideal for customers in emerging economies, which is a key target market for CentralNic. The Company is retaining the staff of Ideegeo and appointing one of Ideegeo’s founders as Customer Engagement Product Planner and Manager across its retail brands.
Ideegeo is one of the largest customers of Hexonet, recently acquired by CentralNic as announced on 1 July 2019. The Acquisition is therefore expected to deliver operational cost savings through vertical integration as well as permanently locking in an important revenue stream for CentralNic.
Finally, as Ideegeo currently only sells domain names, CentralNic believes that there are cross selling opportunities to provide Ideegeo’s 80,000 customers with CentralNic’s extended product offering, including hosting, SSL certificates and other additional subscription products and services.
Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said: “The acquisition of Ideegeo adds more to CentralNic’s retail group than additional earnings, customers and synergies. Its leading User Interface and Customer Engagement solutions, and the team that created them, represent a further differentiator for CentralNic’s global retail business from the competition to support our organic growth.”
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