Datacraft Acquires Chinese Firm For $5.4 Million

Singapore-listed Datacraft Asia has purchased the networking business of Chinese firm Net & Data (N&D) for US$5.4 million through its newly established wholly owned subsidiary, Datacraft Networks (China) Inc.

The N&D is a leading system integrator in the eastern part of China that specializes in the enterprise sector.

“N&D’s business is a good fit for us in many ways,” said Des Althorp, Datacraft’s chairman and CEO. “Being a well-established and influential company in the local market, this acquisition gives us
immediate access to east China’s enterprise market, where N&D already has a huge customer base.”

N&D has a good supplier relationship with Cisco, and Althorp expects this to strengthen Datacraft’s strategic partnership with Cisco in Asia.

The Chinese system integrator specializes in the integration of networking technologies for major banks and large enterprises using products from Milgo Solutions (formerly Racal Datacom), Compaq, Cisco and Sun Microsystems.

N&D’s major customers include Bank of Communications, National Information Center, Hebei PTT, Bank of China, Hubei Co-operative Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Guandong Rail Group and Jiangsu Bosch Company.

“Datacraft is well-established
in China and has a strong track record in the networking industry,
particularly in the telecom market,” said Guan Pei Yi, managing Director of N&D. “We believe that the partnership will open up new and more challenging opportunities for us as we build on Datacraft’s proven industry expertise, vast technology offerings and sound financial standing to further expand our networking business and customer base.”

After the acquisition, N&D’s business will be owned by Datacraft
Networks (China) Inc and managed by the two founders of N&D, Guan Pei Yi
and Zhou Ning.