Domain registry service provider CentralNic have acquired KeyDrive in a deal representing an enterprise value of USD 44.5 million, plus a performance-based pay out of up to $10.5 million. With this acquisition, CentralNic seeks to broaden their scale and product range by adding KeyDrive’s domain reseller and corporate service expertise to their portfolio.
According to CentralNic, KeyDrive’s domain reseller and corporate service prowess have been key in enticing a wide range of customers from the business sector. They believe that this addition to CentralNic’s portfolio of registry services will help them cater to a wide range of industries.
With this acquisition, CentralNic say that they will be adding a long list of SBUs like KSregistry, SkyWay DataCenter, domaindiscount24, RRPproxy, BrandShelter, toweb (Brasil), traffic.club (Luxemburg) PartnerGate, nicSaarland, Moniker (USA) and PartnerGate (Munich) to their portfolio.
Speaking about the acquisition, Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, commented:
The acquisition of KeyDrive is transformative for CentralNic, significantly increasing the Company’s scale and giving it significant extra firepower in the domain name industry to rival the traditional major players.
KeyDrive’s values and reputation within the industry match CentralNic’s. The acquisition makes strong strategic sense to CentralNic and is a leap forward towards becoming a global leader.
KeyDrive claim that both companies possess strengths that complement each other and this was why the acquisition seemed befitting. Thrilled with the deal, Alex Siffrin, CEO and Founder of KeyDrive, said:
We share a vision and a passion to deliver the very best products and solutions to the market and to become one of the leading organisations in our industry. I am looking forward to working closely with my new colleagues in pursuit of that goal.
In closing, CentralNic said that the performance-based earn-out of up to USD 10.5 million will be put in place, of which a minimum of 15% will be settled in cash with the rest settled by the issue of CentralNic shares at the prevailing market price.