Belgian tech gem Newtec acquired by Singaporean group
Belgian tech gem Newtec acquired by Singaporean group
Flemish investors sell satellite company Newtec to Singapore’s ST Engineering for €250 million
Flemish government investment fund PMV and venture capital firm Smartfin (founded by Jurgen Ingels) are selling Newtec, a satellite communications company based in Sint-Niklaas, to Singaporean conglomerate ST Engineering for €250 million in cash.
Newtec specializes in satellite communication systems and equipment for transmitting television signals and broadband internet. PMV and Smartfin jointly hold a 55% majority stake, which they acquired just over two years ago. Along with other private shareholders, they are now fully exiting the company.
ST Engineering, listed on the Singapore stock exchange and controlled by the state-owned fund Temasek, is active in aerospace, shipbuilding, defense, and electronics. It will integrate Newtec into its electronics division, with the Belgian company becoming ST Engineering’s European hub for satellite communications.
The €250 million purchase price represents 14.6 times Newtec’s EBITDA and 2.7 times its annual revenue of €92 million.
€200 million capital gain
The deal generates an estimated €200 million capital gain for the Flemish shareholders—a remarkable return. “It may seem high, but it reflects the enormous growth potential of both Newtec and the sector,” said one source close to the deal.
Behind PMV and Smartfin (with PMV as the slightly larger stakeholder), the second-largest shareholder group includes co-founder Dirk Breynaert and former CFO Emmanuel Schellekens, together holding 15%.
ST Engineering aims to complete the acquisition in the second half of the year. The existing Newtec management team will remain in place.
Strategic future, not just local anchoring
The sale places a promising company in a strategically important sector under foreign ownership. Newtec was founded in 1985 by engineers Dirk Breynaert and Jean-Marie Maes. Its clients have included media giants like CNN and the BBC, satellite operator Intelsat, and the U.S. military.
Roald Borré, investment director at PMV and outgoing chairman of Newtec, defends the sale as a form of long-term anchoring. “Anchoring isn’t just about local shareholding—it’s about securing the best possible future for the company and the region. ST Engineering has the best industrial vision and has committed to further investment,” he says.
According to Borré, Newtec is too small to compete independently in the fast-evolving satellite communications market. “Satellite communication will play a key role in the mobility of the future—think of connected cars. The challenges require scale, and ST Engineering offers that. They already own iDirect, one of Newtec’s top U.S. competitors, but they had almost no European presence. That means they are not focused on cost-cutting synergies, but rather on growth.”
“This deal confirms the strength of Belgian innovation and the high skill level of our workforce,” adds Jurgen Ingels.
A booming market
ST Engineering estimates that the synergies from the acquisition could reach €130 million. They expect the satellite communications market to grow 8% annually over the next decade, driven by developments such as smart cities, where connected vehicles will require high-capacity, reliable communication networks.
More than 5,000 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites are expected to be launched in the coming years by players like SpaceX and Telesat. Newtec’s technology is well suited to support communication with these satellite constellations.
There are also numerous military applications. Newtec is one of the tech firms involved in developing advanced drones for the Belgian military.
ST Engineering further anticipates that satellite communication will converge with ultra-fast 5G networks, unlocking new opportunities in the Internet of Things (IoT) space.
Source: De Tijd, Emmanuel Vanbrussel, 27/03/2019, This is an automatically generated translation of the original article, Link to original article.