Mitsubishi Electric buys stake in SA software firm

Dave Wibberley, managing director of Adroit, which has R35 million in yearly sales, declined to disclose the value of the deal.

But he told I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE that there was no reason that Mitsubishi Electric Europe could not acquire a "significant" stake in Adroit, describing the deal as a vote of confidence in South African technology.

In terms of the deal, Mitsubishi Electric Europe would distribute Adroit's software in Europe through its existing channels. This would give Adroit access to the European market.

Real-time industrial software

Adroit develops real-time industrial control software for water and waste water utilities, as well as telecommunications, energy, mining and metals, cement, automotive and manufacturing companies.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation manufactures electrical and electronic equipment used in information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial technology, energy, transportation and building equipment.

Wibberley said Adroit had a year to bed down the acquisition, noting that the company sought to reach similar distribution deals with Mitsubishi Electric Corporation's other units in the US and Asia.

With the aid of these deals, Adroit had set a target of R100 million growth in sales over the next five years.

Hartmut Puetz, executive vice-president of factory automation at Mitsubishi Electric Europe, said Adroit had world-class software and a proven track record of large-scale solutions in many different industries.

"In addition, their strategy of building value around automation solutions in the form of the alarm management and analysis tools and the recently released Adroit SCADA Intelligence Business Intelligence and Reporting platforms are both groundbreaking and extremely useful productivity tools," Puetz said.