anga_anga 10/05/2014 13:02 Page 2
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Kudelski and Conax: The next steps
Why did the Kudelski Group
acquire Conax?
André Kudelski: Since 2011,
one of our key priorities has
been to further expand our footprint in emerging markets. In
this context, the decision to
acquire Conax was a logical one
for the Group as Conax has
focused on emerging markets
and their solutions are suitable
even for smaller to mid-size
operators, which perfectly complements our existing product
portfolio. With this acquisition,
the Kudelski Group now has
probably the best product portfolio in the industry to address
both the needs of the new
emerging market as well as the
complex needs of advanced
economies operators.
Morten Solbakken: It’s true,
it really is a perfect fit. For more
than 20 years, Conax has established a strong reputation by
developing and delivering stateof-the-art, cost-effective and
easy-to-deploy conditional
access systems. We’ve been very
successful in addressing both the
needs of emerging market operators in addition to covering the
specific needs of other operators
for turnkey, easy-to-deploy solutions. I am looking forward to
Conax playing an important role
as part of the group by increasing the group’s overall market
share, footprint and range of
solutions, as well as enriching it
with the expertise brought by
our high quality staff.
What if any changes will
take place at Conax as a
result of the acquisition?
Kudelski: The Kudelski Group
will continue to run Conax as a
company within the Kudelski
Group, with Morten Solbakken
reporting to me. The two management teams will jointly define
a strategy and a structure leading to a close alignment of the
two organisations over the coming weeks, while keeping the best
interest of our customers in
mind.
Conax will continue to be run
In March The Kudelski Group acquired
Conax from Telenor Broadcast in a
€164m deal. André Kudelski, chairman
and CEO of The Kudelski Group and
Morten Solbakken, CEO Conax, share
their thoughts on what this means for
both companies, their technologies and
their customers.
from Oslo by the existing management team. The Conax team
runs a tight ship and is well serving their customers and delivering innovative new solutions to
market. We will do everything
we can to support the team in
continuing to do so.
Solbakken: With regards to the
rest of the Conax team, we are
committed to deliver our product
roadmaps, serve our existing
customers and increase our customer base this year. We are
continuously refining our organisation to enable execution of this
plan. That being said, Conax is
already a very efficient organisation.
Are there any changes
planned in Kudelski Group
offices as part of the acquisition?
Kudelski: Again, we have no
plans to change the current
structure and organisation of the
company, and that includes
office locations. In the future, we
will carefully examine any possibilities to create synergies on a
case-by-case basis, but our primary goal remains to stay close
to our highly valued customers
to maintain optimal levels of
customer service.
Will the Conax brand disappear?
Kudelski: No, the Conax brand
will not disappear. We will be
maintaining its corporate identit