The Hindu Business Line : DATS merges with Europlex — To set up facility near Chennai

DATS India Ltd, the Chennai-based system integrators in electronic security, safety and building automation, and Europlex Technologies (Ireland), have merged to form iMetrex Technologies.

iMetrex will be based in Chennai and will continue in the line of safety, security and building automation. Both DATS and Europlex brands will continue to have their own identity, and would come under the iMetrex Group, said Mr Anand Mecheri, Executive Chairman of the combined entity.

iMetrex has been formed with a share capital of Rs 74 crore — DATS bringing in about 75 per cent of the total capital, and Europlex and financial investors contributing the rest. The revenue of the combined entity will be $23 million (Rs 103 crore) for the current year, and is projected to reach $100 million (Rs 450 crore) by March 2009. About 70 per cent of the total revenue would come from organic growth and the rest from the inorganic route, including acquisitions, he told newspersons.

iMetrex would set up a 70,000-sq.ft. global resource centre at Siruseri, near Chennai, at a cost of Rs 12-13 crore. The centre will be ready by April 2006, and around 200 people would be employed there, he said.

Currently, DATS employs around 300 people in India, and Europlex has about 45 employees in Dublin, Ireland, he said.

Mr Mike Brosnan, Managing Director, Europlex, in a statement said: "The merger provides us with a critical mass that allows us to operate on a global stage against our international competitors. And offers us new vistas to explore within our domains." Europlex designs, develops and manufactures embedded products and software for security, safety and the building automation industry.

The Rs 75-crore DATS has been delivering electronic security, safety and building automation systems based on Europlex products. The company is now launching the DATS Solution Partner model to deliver end-to-end engineered solutions in Ireland, the UK and West Asian markets, he said.

According to Mr Mecheri, the products manufactured by iMetrex in Pondicherry and Siruseri will be branded as Europlex. DATS will continue to use Europlex products and third-party products to provide customers end-to-end solutions, he said.

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