u-blox Acquires Fastrax

u-blox product development strategy following acquisition of Fastrax (Click image to enlarge.)

October 30, 2012

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u-blox, of Thalwil, Switzerland, has announced the acquisition of privately owned Fastrax Oy, a company that specializes in a broad range of GNSS positioning and antenna modules.

The company brings additional products to u-blox’ portfolio, including software GNSS solutions used for consumer and industrial applications, and advanced GNSS modules that include integrated antenna. Based in Espoo, Finland, Fastrax makes modules based on chips from CSR, MediaTek, STMicroelectronics, and Intel and also owns the full IP for a GNSS receiver, in both hardware and software.

“Over its 12 year history, Fastrax has established itself as a successful player in the global positioning markets worldwide,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “Their modules exploit the best features of four leading GNSS chip vendors and include advanced antenna modules. These products are an excellent complement to our existing portfolio, and will benefit from u‑blox’s economy of scale in terms of our advanced R&D capabilities, semiconductor technologies, global sales channels, established supply chain and high-volume manufacturing resources.”

A u-blox presentation on the acquisition highlighted Fastrax’s strengths as including GNSS correlator and algorithm know-how, module-making and manufacturing capability, and sales channels via distributors.

u-blox says it will integrate Fastrax products into the company’s product development road map, incorporating u-blox chips into the modules offered to Fastrax customers, including a version of Fastrax’s low-power IT530 receiver module built around the u-blox 7 chip.

The acquisition entails purchase of 100 percent of the shares of Fastrax Oy at a price of €13 million. Certain payout rules apply to Fastrax management members. The transaction closed on Monday (October 29, 2012).

u-blox expects revenue of around CHF 2 million and an EBIT of CHF 100,000 for the remainder of 2012, and revenue of CHF 13 to 15 million with an accretive EBIT margin of 15-20 percent for 2013.