Speedcast CEO Strikes to Seize Service Provider Industry

SpeedCast Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Jean Beylier. Photo: SpeedCast

Speedcast made news recently of its on-going acquisition of Globecomm, marking the latest buyout of Speedcast Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pierre-Jean Beylier’s 16-company spree, starting in 2012. The $135 million purchase of the U.S.-based remote communications and infrastructure provider is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. When complete, this latest transaction will significantly consolidate the service provider market for Speedcast, most notably in its core verticals. It will also see Speedcast leverage some aspects of Globecomm’s operating platform, including a combination of global satellite and terrestrial connectivity; deep technical expertise; proprietary Internet of Things (IOT) or Machine to Machine (M2M) capabilities; and a broad portfolio of technology solutions.

Considering the breakdown of Globecomm’s revenues — half of which come from government services, a quarter from maritime and the rest from others including broadcast — the acquisition beautifully plays to its strategy of consolidation and, most importantly, fortifying government.

The greatest consolidation is in maritime communications. It is here that Speedcast is a significant player and enjoys buoyant business, as one of the verical’s staples. While the acquisition builds on this, enabling the maritime customer base to swell and Speedcast to accelerate the migration of Globecomm’s narrowband vessels to broadband Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services, it also opens up the enterprise market. Here, Globecomm provides strong market positions and new solutions in subverticals, most notably media. Growth is expected to come from the U.S. where there is a strong foothold.

Fortifying government

But beyond maritime communications consolidation and enterprise growth, most significant of all is the impact that this acquisition has on government, which the company is keen to strengthen since entering the market following the buyout UltiSat last eyar. With the Globecomm transaction doubling Speedcast’s revenue in the government sector, Beylier expects this stronger market position to win larger and more complex contracts.

“We took a big step toward building a stronger position in the Government sector with the acquisition of UltiSat in 2017. The acquisition of Globecomm is synergistic to UltiSat and gives us an even stronger market position at a time when we see growth in this sector,” said Beylier. “Globecomm brings depth in a number of Government sectors that are important and relevant to UltiSat, including the U.S. Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, Federal, Civil, and Global Government.”

The Globecomm acquisition complements UltiSat by further boosting Speedcast’s capabilities to serve customers, when government spending is expected to rise globally. This increase, explains Beylier, is through greater scale, visibility and capabilities in this vertical. Described as a growth market, there is notable competition, with both big and small players competing. While the past performance of UltiSat under Speedcast affords a competitive edge, according to Beylier, the completion of the Globecomm integration will see the combined business become even better positioned to compete and build partnerships on large-scale programs in both the U.S. and global government markets. This edge, though, is not limited to government.  

“Speedcast is building its competitive advantage based upon its scale, capabilities, and focus on innovation. Globecomm has also built a strong reputation providing remote communications, systems integration and professional services to its key customers. The combined portfolio positions Speedcast with unique scale, innovation and global footprint that will enable us to deliver both productized and customized solutions to customers around the world,” says Beylier.

Scale, capabilities, and a hot $1 billion

For Beylier, his latest acquisition comes with big expectations: The combined organization will be a global leader in the industry. The plan is to quickly move forward with the integration, identifying synergies cost and revenue, optimizing the product portfolio, and combining the system integration capabilities in order to create a force in the market, he said.

“Our vision is to further build scale and capabilities to reach $1 billion revenue within three years, to strengthen our leadership position in maritime and energy, to gain deeper penetration in government, and to drive economies of scale and efficiencies to target 25 percent Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) margin within three years,” noted Beylier.

While being upbeat about the company’s outlook, Beylier also sees positive activity occurring within the satellite industry as a whole. As capacity continues to grow and change the business models within the industry, he says, technology advances will drive change more rapidly, creating a good stage for emerging technologies to come into play.

“Exciting new technologies such as cloud computing, flat panel antennas, 5G and IOT will have a dramatic impact on the industry,” he concluded.