Taiwanese Point-of-Sales terminal brand leader Posiflex announced today that they have entered into a purchase agreement with KIOSK Information Systems (KIOSK), a world leader in self-service solutions. Posiflex will offer KIOSK a cash purchase for all outstanding ordinary shares, for a total consideration of approximately $US 105 million. Both companies are industry forerunners known for best-in-class POS and self-service platforms. Combining these complementary strengths positions Posiflex for continued growth tied to emerging “Internet of Things” (IoT) applications within the service automation industry.
Retailers, financial service providers, hospitality and logistics service providers are key among an even wider industry audience driving steady and steep demand in transaction automation. Deployers are increasingly incorporating self-service as a “must-have” element of today’s Omnichannel consumer experience; increasing touch points, reducing costs – all while simultaneously collecting valuable transaction data. KIOSK is unique among its’ competitors in its ability to provide a complete end-to-end solution encompassing custom design engineering, manufacturing, software development, field services, and highly secure managed services. This “total solution” approach to services has fueled KIOSK’s continued growth and reinforced analyst’s rankings of KIOSK as the dominant North American provider and #3 globally.
As the IoT is driving improved asset utilization, better logistics management, and better customer experiences, self-service automation platforms become an increasingly integral element of Omnichannel sales strategies. Utilizing IoT data from transactions provides valuable insight for customer-specific data collection and enables customized point of sales marketing. Posiflex CEO Owen Chen adds that, “By combining Posiflex and KIOSK’s dual-value proposition in this domain, we are confident in emerging as a distant leader in this growing market.”
Post-transaction plans are to retain and empower the current KIOSK Management Team with no operational or organizational restructuring required as result of the transaction. Tom Weaver, KIOSK’s current CEO, will now hold dual Board of Director roles for both Posiflex and KIOSK. This will accelerate efforts of the current management team to execute KIOSK’s strategic growth plans, leveraging key Posiflex resources. Access to a global sales network and highly relevant engineering / integration capabilities are among many strategic leverage points created by combining the companies.
Leveraging Posiflex’s international channel reach throughout Greater China, Asian Countries, Russia, India, and Europe; KIOSK is uniquely positioned to ensure sustainable market growth not only in North America, but also the global marketplace. Further, Posiflex will provide substantial advantage for KIOSK tied to upgrading critical components and peripheral modules. This ultimately enhances KIOSK’s future solution offerings with even more advanced product and service coverage capabilities.
KIOSK CEO Tom Weaver adds, “We firmly believe that joining forces with Posiflex fully supports our growth objectives and represents the best interests of our customers and employees. Having overnight access to Posiflex’s international presence and complementary technology resource adds distinct competitive advantage and differentiation. This combined scale opens new doors to growing world markets and further advances KIOSK’s ability to provide comprehensive and state-of-the-art solutions.”
This transaction was advised by KPMG Corporate Finance LLC, and is expected to close in 2016-Q3.
