ASX-listed cybersecurity software vendor FirstWave has announced it has acquired managed services provider (MSP) software vendor Opmantek.

Headquartered in the US and incorporated in Australia, Opmantek specialises in network management, automation and IT audit software to MSPs and medium-to-large businesses.

FirstWave will acquire Optmantek in a 100 percent scrip deal, issuing some 691 million new FirstWave shares to Opmantek shareholders. FirstWave will also look to raise $14 million in equity through an entitlement offer and institutional placement worth $7 million each.

In the announcement, FirstWave said the deal would be “transformative”, including the expansion to provide an end-to-end solution for network discovery, management and cybersecurity.

Opmantek executive chairman Danny Maher will also join FirstWave’s leadership team as its new managing director and CEO, replacing Nick Pollock, who departed in July. Opmantek CEO Craig Nelson, who is based in the US, will become FirstWave’s chief revenue officer and head of global sales. FirstWave will also add former Intelledox CEO Ray Kiley to its board.

“Rarely do you find two companies that fit together as perfectly as FirstWave and Opmantek. In a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, both companies bring highly complementary business models, product offerings and geographic footprints,” FirstWave executive chairman John Grant said.

“The combination significantly expands the growth potential of both companies by providing truly global reach, an expanded product portfolio and material operational, strategic and financial benefits.”

Grant added FirstWave would also gain access to Opmantek’s channel partners and sales force in the US, Canada and Latin America, where the company does not currently have a foothold.

Opmantek has a larger North American business contributing 60 percent of the company’s annualised recurring revenue (ARR). Some of its customers include Microsoft, Telmex, NextLink and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The company has some 26 full-time equivalent staff across its offices in Australia, the US and Mexico.

Incoming FirstWave CEO Danny Maher said, “The acquisition by FirstWave will enable the integration of Opmantek’s software onto FirstWave’s CyberCision Open Security Management Platform and create an end-to-end solution for network discovery, management and cybersecurity that is globally unique.”

“I will be joining as FirstWave’s CEO and am excited by a belief that we have an incredible opportunity to be the automated network and security management platform of choice for MSPs globally.”

FirstWave said the acquisition is expected to bring in some $4 million of additional revenue at 100 percent gross margin and some $3.4 million of ARR. The deal is expected to be fully completed by 4 January 2022.

by Nico Arboleda

Originally Published by CRN