Norspace Holding AS has agreed to sell 100% of its shares in satellite component builder Norspace AS to Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace (KDA), a company in Kongsberg Gruppen (KONGSBERG), in a deal signed 20th October.
Horten, Norway based Norspace is best known for its Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) based analogue processing equipment used in telecommunications satellites, but has recently entered the market for Telemetry Command and Ranging (TCR) equipment, also used in telecommunications satellites. Norspace is also a major supplier of electronics equipment to Europe’s Galileo navigation satellite constellation, now under construction. Norspace currently employs 95 people and had revenues of 104 MNOK (approximately 13 million Euros) in 2010, all of which was for on board satellite hardware. Six key employees of Norspace AS, including its Chief Executive Sverre Bisgaard, own the selling company, Norspace Holding.
KONGSBERG is an international, knowledge-based group that supplies high-technology systems and solutions to customers engaged in the oil and gas industry, the merchant marine industry, and the defence and aerospace industries. In 2010, KONGSBERG had a turnover of NOK 15.5 billion, and the Group has more than 6 000 employees in 25 countries. Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) is a premier supplier of defence and aerospace-related systems and the portfolio comprises products and systems for command and control, weapons guidance and surveillance, communications solutions and missiles.
As a subsidiary of KDA, Norspace will continue its business as present, and under the same management, while being able to benefit from important resources of a large industrial group with already significant presence in the space sector. KDA and its owner, KONGSBERG, have significant space activities, including mechanical and electro-optical components for satellites and launchers, ground station equipment, satellite navigation equipment and satellite services. Both buyer and seller consider that Norspace and KONGSBERG will mutually strengthen their growth potentials in the space sector because of the acquisition.
“Norspace will become part of a group with significant space activities, with a strong industrial and technological base and a very sound financial basis. The new ownership provides long-term assurance to our customers, suppliers and employees about Norspace’s future”, CEO Sverre Bisgaard said in a statement.
“KONGSBERG has had strong faith in space and surveillance for some time. The significant contracts we recently have landed confirm this faith. The acquisition of Norspace enables us to exploit each other's expertise and market positions to grow and develop new products and markets. Both companies have demonstrated impressive development and ability to innovate in recent years, and we look forward to continue this progress and build new opportunities in a larger and more internationally robust company,” says Harald Ånnestad, President of Kongsberg Defence Systems.
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