Brocker tapping into big range of expertise

By PAULA OLIVER

Fast-growing local company Brocker Technology is proving difficult to ignore, appointing a United States senator to its board, and expanding its consultancy arm with a $2.5 million buyout of a boutique firm.

Brocker chief executive Mike Ridgway said the company's flood of expansion announcements, hot on the heels of listing on the Nasdaq, would continue over coming weeks.

"There was a period when we were required not to change the business too significantly while we were going through the Nasdaq registration process," he said.

"But that's past, and there will be significant announcements coming, some of which will be bigger than anything so far."

Brocker's latest acquisition, Certus Project Consulting, specialises in helping corporate and Government organisations to become e-business ready. Certus employs 20 people, in offices in New Zealand and Australia. Its clients have included Air New Zealand, Vodafone, and the National Bank.

Mr Ridgway said Brocker had been attracted to the boutique firm's staff, who he said had developed unique ways of doing business. Their methods would strengthen Brocker's Professional Services arm, which Mr Ridgway planned to expand into the US, Canada and Britain.

The staff of another Brocker acquisition, Datec, will be trained by Certus managing director Greg Woolley.

The most intriguing announcement made by Brocker so far is the appointment of Robert Singer, Senator for New Jersey, as a director. Senator Singer, who has held that post since 1993, has been involved in drafting legislation related to software, electronics, and biotechnology.

Canada-based Brocker chairman Casey O'Byrne said Senator Singer's versatility would add strength to the board.

"He has been very active in the advancement of technology from a legislative position, and is recognised for his understanding of technological developments and their influence on our changing economy," he said.

Brocker is expected to announce another appointment to its board in coming months, as a result of the $37 million acquisition of Datec.

Datec will continue to be partly owned by Fiji's Ah Koy family, widely acknowledged as one of the most influential families in Fiji. The company employs 300 staff in offices throughout the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji. It had revenues last year of $66 million.

Datec Australia managing director Krishna Sami said he saw Brocker as an aggressively growing company that would give software solutions provider Datec the chance to grow too.

"Our businesses are quite similar and structure quite similar too, so we fit together well," Mr Sami said. "We will be looking to streamline the business, but Brocker has said they are keen to retain the existing management team."

Datec supplies and implements hardware, and design applications for companies looking to enter e-business. Its major jobs have included a taxation management system for the Fijian Government.