By PETER GRIFFIN
He's the man responsible for building up then selling off New Zealand's ultimate tech darling - electronics and location software maker Navman.
But co-founder Peter Maire, boat lover that he is, isn't planning to sail off into the sunset just yet.
Life after the sale is pretty similar to how it was before - Navman and technology continue to loom large in Maire's life.
A maker of navigation gadgets for the marine, car and consumer markets, Navman will generate $200 million in revenue this year and, based on last year's performance, deliver another profit to its new owner, US giant boat and engine maker Brunswick.
Maire is confident Navman can achieve annual revenue of $1 billion in the next five years.
The sale attracted as much criticism as it did praise. But for Maire, the reality was that Navman's prospects were nowhere as good without Brunswick's backing.
The deal was completed ahead of schedule in June, the final sale price about $108 million.
Through the handover, Navman carried on its trend of rapid expansion - the figures just keep getting better each year.
Estimates of Maire's final cut of the proceeds vary from $40 million to $50 million, a portion of which he took in Brunswick shares.
The 54-year-old entrepreneur said letting go of the company he formed 17 years ago in Auckland with partner Lionel Rogers didn't cause him any anguish.
"It hasn't bothered me in the slightest. I went through all of that when I was doing the deal with Brunswick," he said.
It's not life after Navman, Maire is still chairman of the company and involved in steering it.
There's more time to spend with his two adult children who, Maire admits, were sometimes starved of his attention in their early teens while he was building up the business.
He's doing more of the things he loves - boating, surfing and skiing - and says he may also fit in some university study.
He still has time for public life, often contributing to Government think-tanks and strategy groups, such as the HiGrowth Project of which he is a board member.
As to the health of the technology sector he's worked in for most of his career, Maire has some concerns.
He points to the low ratio of private sector research and development here compared with countries such as the US and Japan.
The most recent Government statistics have the business sector contributing 30 per cent to research and development spending, while the Government and higher education sector, which invests largely with Government funding, contribute the rest.
"You've got to [encourage] companies to do research and development. That's why Singapore has run past us," said Maire, who came up with HiGrowth's target of building 100 IT companies with turnover of $100 million or more by 2012.
He knows the board set itself an ambitious target.
"We've 90 companies under $2 million. It's going to be hard."
Maire has become heavily involved in Brunswick New Technologies, a company division that looks at new areas for expansion.
"Most of my focus is on strategy and acquisition, small companies with chunks of technology we can add in."
BNT is small - a handful of lawyers, acquisition specialists and accountants headed by president T. J. Chung and based in the US.
With a healthy balance sheet, Brunswick has a large stockpile of cash available for acquisitions and an eagerness to spend it.
"For companies that sit on cash, it's almost a vote of no confidence because the management doesn't appear to know how to use the money best," said Maire, who entered negotiations to buy consumer electronics maker Grundig's €200 million ($375 million) auto division.
Brunswick came away empty-handed, but Maire is busy sizing up other acquisition targets.
The new role has him travelling more than ever. But Maire's making time for business outside of the Brunswick fold.
"I've got some free money now, I've got to decide what to do with it," said Maire.
Earlier this month, he quietly began buying shares via his company Tahia Holdings in Eftpos terminal maker Cadmus.
Maire ended up paying about $4.8 million for an 18 per cent stake in NZX-listed Cadmus and has picked up some good contracts in Malaysia.
"It's cheap from my perspective because I know it's hard to get to $13 million in revenue," Maire said of Cadmus.
He sees the company as "Navman era 1997" - past that important $10 million revenue milestone but needing to adapt for serious expansion. "I don't think it's difficult to halve the cost of making Cadmus terminals," said Maire, who knows a bit about cutting manufacturing costs from moving a chunk of Navman's manufacturing to China.
Maire said a telling sign of Cadmus' potential was Singapore Technologies' move to take a 10 per cent stake in the company. The Singapore investment group has cast its net wide and holds strategic investments in tech companies worldwide.
Maire is also looking to buy into an Australian technology company he won't name yet.
He said Navman would change greatly over the next few years, as it pursued its own strategy of diversification.
Car makers were increasingly demanding navigation units to be integrated with car stereos and sold as single packages.
"Navman will come to look more like [car audio brands] Clarion or Alpine," he said.
Navman would have to buy its way into the market - hence the interest in Grundig's automotive division.
"If you're going to supply a unit into a car, navigation has to be part of the entertainment mix," he said.
The devices that would in the near future be fitted in new cars would supply a lot more than car audio and navigation - they would be internet enabled so email could be sent from the road.
Navman, which makes car navigation devices that can be fitted after the cars sell, is talking with car manufacturers about building its devices into their dashboards.
"We've got to convince them to join us," Maire said.
"If you're working on a device for a new series of BMW, you'll be shipping in three years time. There's a long lead-in time."
The other arm of Navman's strategy was to crack the US retail giants.
Navman devices are already in the likes of Fry's Electrical and CompUSA, but Navman wants greater reach and is negotiating with a US chain that has 1200 stores.
Maire said US retail was an "unforgiving market", but the key to the success of mass consumer products, which Navman devices had become.
"You need huge muscle to last the distance with big retail customers," he said.
"And the US consumer will return products because there's a no-questions-asked policy." Navman's new Pin (personal interactive navigation) device would likely end up on shelves in computer stores alongside devices from Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba.
A handheld computer based on the Pocket PC version of Windows, Navman has built GPS (global positioning system) modules and mapping software into the devices, allowing users to navigate around the world with the little gadget they use to organise their lives.
Navman used to supply attachments for other companies' handhelds - now it is partnering with SiRF Technology, a Nasdaq-listed semiconductor company, and selling its own branded device.
Computer makers are hoping navigation services will breathe new life into the market for handheld devices, which has levelled off. Already Navman has a line of competitors with similar intentions.
"We weren't first to market, we were second. At least five other companies are looking at getting into it," said Maire.
"You've got 90 days to bring a new product to market and it will be dead in six months."
While Brunswick's ownership gave Navman greater access to a global talent pool, finding skilled staff was a constant challenge.
A look at the Careers section of the www.navman.com website illustrates the company's personnel needs - it is looking for about 30 staff locally, most of them to fill skilled software and hardware development positions. An engineering division has been set up in Germany, at the heart of Europe's automotive industry, but attracting talent to New Zealand is difficult.
"It's a nice destination but we don't pay as much. If they come here, they've made their money and are moving for lifestyle reasons."
For years a National supporter, Maire doesn't see a change of Government bringing any radical improvement.
"This Labour Government has done more than any National Government before it for the [technology] industry."
For what would become one of New Zealand's most successful technology companies, there were lots of lean days along the way.
"It was around 1994 and we had an interesting meeting around then over a bottle of wine. We were technically insolvent," said Maire.
"We had a lot of tough times like that."
Navigating the big deals
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