WISeKey acquires Cybersecurity Company QuoVadis

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06.04.2017

Cybersecurity and IoT company WISeKey International Holding Ltd, (SIX: WIHN), has completed the acquisition of Quovadis Holdings Ltd. The acquisition allows WISeKey to reinforce its IoT Public Key Infrastructure, get access to a large clientele and to expand its services in Europe.

WISeKey has successfully completed the acquisition of Quovadis, a leading global Certification Authority (CA) company providing managed PKI platforms for digital certificates, TLS/SSL, eID, and e-signatures tailored to multinational enterprises and the European markets. Quovadis has operating activities in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Bermuda.

The consideration paid to QuoVadis’ selling equity holders ABRY and One Communications Ltd. (formerly known as KeyTech) consisted of a cash consideration of USD 13,000,000, plus 1,110,000 newly issued Class B Shares of WISeKey issued from existing authorized capital, subject to a lock-up period of three months. WISeKey will also repay indebtedness of QuoVadis in the amount of USD 2,000,000.

WISeKey and management have each a right to acquire and sell, respectively, the remaining 15%-stake of QuoVadis’ management in May 2018 based on QuoVadis’ performance in financial year 2017, at the election of WISeKey in cash or against Class B Shares. Any issuance of new Class B Shares would be capped at 946,000 Class B Shares.

The acquisition of QuoVadis will allow WISeKey to reinforce its IoT PKI offering. IoT PKI is defined as the provision of a complete X.509 digital certificate and cryptographic key and life-cycle capabilities, including public/private key generation, distribution, management, and revocation. The hardware specs for some IoT devices may limit or prevent their ability to utilize PKI. Digital certificates can be securely loaded onto IoT devices at the time of manufacture and then activated/enabled by third-party PKI software suites; the certificates could also be installed post-manufacture. Sample vendors: DigiCert, Entrust Datacard, Gemalto, HPE, Symantec, and WISeKey.

In addition to technology and clients, QuoVadis brings to WISeKey its strength serving enterprise customers, with more than 300 large cap and 3,000 overall customers worldwide, including Europe, the United States and Australia. The Transaction will bring strong synergies to WISeKey with the large recurring customer base of QuoVadis’ proven Trust/Link and sealsign technologies; in-depth operations experience running multiple secure and high-availability trustcentre environments under strict accreditation regimes; and adopt sales and support teams based in important customer markets, including Switzerland.

Moreover, this acquisition positions reinforces WISeKey position as a market leader in this newly emerging industry referred to as Vertical Platforms for IoT Security Technologies.

Carlos Moreira, Chairman & CEO of WISeKey, commented: “We are excited to announce that this strategic acquisition of QuoVadis has now been completed. This acquisition will immediately give WISeKey access to a large clientele in the financial, industrial, and media sectors and expand our geographic footprint in Europe”. WISeKey started 2017 on a strong note, and will continue to expand its business globally in the months to come, in particular in the U.S.”

Roman Brunner, CEO of QuoVadis, said: “We are pleased that the transaction with WISeKey has now closed. The acquisition by WISeKey will enable QuoVadis to extend our growth serving our multinational corporate markets, as well as the fast evolving markets for eIDAS cross border services and Internet of Things (“IoT”)”.

About WISeKey
WISeKey is a leading cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale Internet of Things (“IoT”) digital identity ecosystems and has become a pioneer of the 4th Industrial Revolution movement. WISeKey’s Swiss based Cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) integrates wearable technology with secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, and empowers IoT and wearable devices to become secure transactional devices. WISeKey has patented this process in the USA as it is currently used by many IoT providers.

More information on the aquisition is available on WiseKey Website.

(RAN)

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