[Satellite News 10-30-12] SpeedCast, which now has new owners in TA Associates, a global growth private equity firm, could look to make acquisitions in Africa to boost its competitive position in the near future. While no deals are necessarily imminent, the company has been involved in discussions about opportunities in the region. Africa is a key target for the company, as it looks to boost its competitive position there. “TA Associates is committed to help us grow the company, and acquisitions are one way to do that, but not the only way. There are some targets that sit well with our strategy and fit with our strengths and capabilities. We have been looking for the right acquisitions for some time. We are still working on that,” Pierre-Jean Beylier, CEO told Satellite News. “There is not much more that we can say right now. We see our business in Africa growing. A lot of our customers are expanding to the African continent and need services there. So, we are interested to see if we can strengthen our capabilities there, and bring them up to the high-levels of service that we have in Asia; an acquisition could help us achieve that faster.”

     The company is now entering a new era. SpeedCast offers satellite-based broadband services and managed network services throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Last month, AsiaSat announced that it had sold its entire interest in SpeedCast to TA Associates. Beylier believes this is a positive move for SpeedCast. He says, “I think it is a very positive thing for the company. As the company is getting bigger, we have evolving needs. It is a fact that we are not core to a satellite operator such as AsiaSat. Now with a private equity investor like TA, we have shareholder that is very focused on helping the company to grow. They are a growth investor and I am confident that we will be able to grow the company further. You will also see us explore new growth avenues, be it organic growth or external growth.

     He continues, “Nothing is changing in terms of the management of the company. The overall strategy of the company remains the same. We are going to be leveraging our strengths. We have also signed a long-term agreement with AsiaSat to secure capacity. This is important to meet our current requirements and future growth.”

      It seems as though a lot of the company’s focus will be on Africa over the next 12 months. While it may or may not make an acquisition, it seems clear that boosting the company’s position in the region as pretty much at the top of the list in terms of company priorities. “We will be investing in more people in key markets in Africa. We will be putting engineers and operations support people on the ground, and to better support our customers. We will be looking at acquisitions, if this has the ability to get us where we want to go faster. In any case, we will be working to expand our capabilities in Africa,” comments Beylier. “We currently have complete C and Ku-band coverage over Africa. We want to extend that in terms of having deals with local teleports in the market to serve private, domestic network requirements, as we have done in Asia. In Asia, we have invested in VSAT hubs in several countries. I have stopped counting, but I think there are at least ten countries where we have local VSAT hubs to serve local customer requirements. We are exploring similar opportunities in Africa.”

In terms of which country markets, the company is targeting, Beylier adds, “Right now, we are looking at markets that have significant natural resources, and that are attracting oil and gas and mining companies. We are really focused on East Africa right now. So, this is countries like Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique, to name a few. There is one other country not in East Africa where we have a growing presence and that is Angola.”

      While Africa may be the main target market in terms of regional growth, in terms of verticals, the company wants to make it presence felt more in the oil and gas market. “Oil and Gas vertical is one of a number of verticals that SpeedCast is focusing on. Oil and Gas is one of the biggest customers in the satellite industry. We still have some work to do in that vertical to further the SpeedCast name. But, we will see some great potential for us in this market,” admits Beylier.