ASX Tech Stocks: $176 million takeover for Tesserent and ASX tech plays entering lucrative deals

Cybersecurity firm Tesserent to be taken over by French multinational Thales in $176 million deal
Gratifii signs three-year contract with client RACV to deploy its SaaS platform with expanded range of rewards
Netlinkz inks a strategic partnership with major telecommunications company PT&T Corp, based in the Philippines

Tesserent (ASX:TNT)

The Melbourne-headquartered cyber security firm is up ~145% at lunch time after announcing it will be taken over by French multinational Thales for an equity value of $176 million.

TNT and Thales have entered a binding scheme implementation deed (SID) for a purchase price of 13 cents/share, which is a 165.3% premium to the closing price on Friday.

Thales has advised the TNT business will continue to be known as Tesserent, and its visual identity will incorporate the “Cyber Solutions by Thales” tagline.

In its announcement TNT said it will become the lead cybersecurity offering of Thales Australia and New Zealand.

The TNT board unanimously recommends shareholders vote in favour of the deal at an anticipated meeting in September.

Gratifii (ASX:GTI)

GTI has signed a three-year contract with key client RACV to deploy its SaaS platform with an expanded range of rewards with options to renew for a further two terms of three years.

Neat Ideas, GTI’s rewards business, has been an existing rewards platform provider to RACV’s 2.1 million members for more than 10 years.

Under the new contract, GTI expects to receive an annual licence fee of up to $360k with an expected 12-month inflow of $6 million from RACV and its affiliates and $2.5 million in cross-sell revenue.

GTI is confident it will deliver positive cashflows within FY24 with the additional revenue from the expanded rewards and services products offered.

“We are pleased to have renewed this important contract with RACV, and to further expand this relationship,” CEO and MD Iain Dunstan said.

To accelerate further growth and the deployment of GTI’s SaaS platform, as well as other initiatives, the company said it is also undertaking a capital raise.

The raise consists of a $1.84 million unconditional placement to institutional investors of 115.3 million new fully paid ordinary shares (Tranche 1) at an issue price 1.6 cents/share, being the closing share price on June 7 2023.

GTI has entered into a binding agreement (subject to shareholder approval) to raise a further $905k to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors (Tranche 2), which will also be priced at 1.6 cents/share.

Bombora Special Investments Growth Fund, GTI’s largest shareholder, has committed $250k in the Tranche 2 component of the equity raise.

Netlinkz (ASX:NET)

NET has inked a strategic partnership with major telecommunications company PT&T Corp, based in the Philippines to use its product offerings to improve connectivity and accelerate digital transformation across its various customer sectors.

The company said SMEs operating in remote regions of the Philippines will be able to leverage NET’s Starlink’s satellite internet, and overcome geographical barriers impacting connectivity.

The PT&T/Netlinkz partnership will enable marine industry stakeholders to leverage the power of reliable and high-speed connectivity.

NET said the partnership will bring significant benefits to the Philippine Islands, addressing the challenges of reliable connectivity that are often encountered in the region.

The company said the partnership will bridge the connectivity gap, empowering the islands with robust networking solutions facilitating seamless communication, enabling access to essential services, and supporting economic development and growth.

“The signing of the partnership agreement with PT&T Corp is further proof that Netlinkz has the product and service offerings capable of delivering connectivity and digital transformation enhancements that benefit multiple users of telecommunication services,” NET MD James Tsiolis said.

James Velasquez, president and CEO PT&T Corp, said the company was thrilled to introduce Starlink to the Philippines, providing a dependable internet solution for customers who require reliable connectivity.

“Through our partnership with Netlinkz, we can offer high-speed internet access to areas where traditional broadband services are limited or unavailable,” he said.

Beam Communications (ASX:BCC)

BCC said shipments of its Iridium GO! exec to Iridium Communications Inc (Nasdaq: IRDM) are running well ahead of schedule.

The company has completed delivery of the first year’s minimum commitment against the US$12 million Iridium GO! exec five-year contract in just six months since it was launched and has received a further drawdown for more units to be built and shipped.

By the end of FY23, BCC will have delivered 40% of the US$12 million commitment and the additional drawdown request is anticipated to fulfil 80% of the commitment by the end of FY24, well ahead of schedule.

“The latest request for additional Iridium GO! exec units from our long-standing partner, Iridium, supports our expectation that we will secure additional orders for the device that is above and beyond the US$12 million initial value of our contract,” BCC managing director Michael Capocchi said.

“The demand for Iridium GO! exec also demonstrates the strong growth in the global mobile satellite communications space – an area of the market that Beam specialises in.”