Bittnet, a group of IT companies listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, finalized the negotiations for the complete takeover of TopTech, a local company specialized in equipment and IT&C solutions. The transaction is subject to approval by the Competition Council.
TopTech is a Romanian IT&C company founded in 1992 in Deva, being one of the largest IT&C solution companies in the center and western part of the country. TopTech currently uses advanced technologies and has solid partnerships with leading manufacturers such as Dell and HP. The company has over 80 employees and collaborators, being one of the most important companies operating in the offices in Deva, Sibiu, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Alba-Iulia, and Mediaș. Thus, due to this transaction, the group is expanding its national geographical coverage.
The value of the announced transaction is estimated at 12.5 million lei and will be subject to the usual adjustments for this type of deal. This value will be partially paid in cash (7.5 million lei directly by Dendrio), while the remaining 5 million lei will represent BNET shares. Bittnet shareholders approved the investment in TopTech at the General Meeting of Shareholders on September 7th, 2021. The acquisition is part of the Bittnet Group's expansion and consolidation plan through M&A transactions, with the goal of the group being the strengthening of its presence in both the classic IT&C integration and in cybersecurity.
"We are pleased to announce the signing of the transaction with TopTech, one of the three companies we mentioned that we were in the advanced stages of negotiations in the preliminary report for 2021. TopTech's business is similar to the one of Dendrio. By merging the solutions and services portfolios of the two entities, we can better meet the clients' needs. We welcome our new colleagues to our team, and we are confident that through this investment, we will continue to expand the number of clients served by our Group and the services provided to them, as well as increase the revenues. Although we are in a difficult geopolitical context, characterized by unpredictability, we remain dedicated to the plans announced to investors regarding investments and expansion on the Central and Eastern Europe markets," stated Mihai Logofătu, CEO of Bittnet Group.
In 2021, TopTech recorded a turnover of over 55 million lei, an operating profit of approximately 2 million lei, and a net profit of 1.6 million lei. Upon completing the transaction, the TopTech team will be integrated into the "Cloud & Infrastructure" business group within the Technology Division of the Bittnet group.
In 2021, this division, which includes Elian, Nenos, Nonlinear, ITPrepared, GRX, and ISEC, had a turnover of 98.4 million lei and an operating profit of 7.7 million lei. Without taking into consideration the takeover of TopTech, the group is estimating revenues of 134.6 million lei for the technology division in 2022, an increase of 37% compared to 2021, according to the revenue and expense budget subject to approval by shareholders at the General Meeting of Shareholders from April 20, 2022.
By transposing IT&C integration activities, Dendrio will strengthen its position as a multi-cloud integrator in Romania and will provide clients with the broadest range of cloud services, such as migration, hosting, infrastructure, backup, software as a service, and many others, both publicly and privately, but also through a hybrid model.
The transaction was facilitated by Kogaion Investments, which provided M&A consulting services to the buyer and coordinated the transaction process. The Kogaion Investments team, led by Adinel Tudor, assisted Bittnet Group in all local market transactions carried out by the group in 2021. The local M&A consulting boutique has over ten years of experience in the field, during this period being involved in transactions with a total value of over 200 million euros.
Bittnet was founded in 2007 in Bucharest by brothers Mihai and Cristian Logofătu, as a training and IT solutions company in Romania and abroad. Today, Bittnet is a group of IT companies that include the following brands: Bittnet Training, Dendrio, ELIAN Solutions, Equatorial Gaming, The eLearning Company, Softbinator, ISEC Associates, Computer Learning Center, IT Prepared, Global Resolution Experts and Nenos Software. The Bittnet Group is listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the symbol BNET.
