TelstraSaturn picks up a web bargain

By CHRIS BARTON it editor

TelstraSaturn has bought New Zealand web development company Zivo from its beleagured parent LibertyOne, which was suspended from trading on the Australian Stock Exchange and put into voluntary administration in early December.

The price for Zivo New Zealand, which had 100 staff and revenues of about $10 million in 2000, has not been disclosed, but it is believed TelstraSaturn got a bargain at around $3 million.

That is a far cry from the $10 million Liberty One paid for Zivo - then called Clearview - in August 1999.

Voluntary administrator Peter Shear of Ernst and Young Australia said the sale was part of the process of disposing of LibertyOne's remaining assets. Zivo Australia was sold to Australian listed company Softcom in late December for less than $A50,000.

Zivo New Zealand Auckland general manger Gavin Thwaites said there would be 10 redundancies, but 70 staff would move across to TelstraSaturn.

He said the sale was a better option than a previously proposed management buyout, because both customers and staff would benefit from TelstraSaturn's size and market position. Zivo customers include Vodafone, TAB, Pumpkin Patch, Carter Holt Harvey and Fleetlease.

TelstraSaturn chief executive Jack Matthews said Zivobrought the company more expertise in web development, consulting services and systems integration.

It is the third internet related acquisition by TelstraSaturn in New Zealand. In April last year it bought Wellington-based internet provider Paradise.net for about $19 million, and in October 1999 Telstra bought web hosting and business internet provider NetLink from Victoria University for about $20 million.

The closing chapter of the LibertyOne dotcom disaster follows a chain of mismanagement and ballooning losses.

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