Baltimore Technologies is to sell its core PKI business to beTrusted for a total consideration of £5 million cash.
The sale of the PKI business completes Baltimore's disposal programme and follows the recent sales of SelectAccess to HP and OmniRoot and Managed Services to beTrusted.
Bijan Khezri, chief executive officer of Baltimore Technologies, comments: "The long-term competitiveness of the PKI business requires critical mass and beTrusted has emerged as an excellent partner to take our PKI technology and customer base to its next level."
The PKI business is the core of Baltimore's ongoing revenue generating business. With over 300 customers worldwide in the high-end government, finance and telecommunications market, Baltimore's flagship product, UniCert, is billed by the company as the world's leading PKI infrastructure.
Based on unaudited management information for the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2002, the PKI business generated revenues of £19.3 million and a loss before interest and tax of £11.1 million.
John Garvey, chief executive officer of beTrusted, comments: "Over 75% of our clients have made significant investments in Baltimore's PKI suite which we have implemented and operated for many years. We believe that beTrusted's ownership will provide the necessary stability and support for existing and prospective clients."
Upon approval of the deal, the core PKI group will transfer to beTrusted and remain in Ireland. Baltimore says it will implement a redundancy programme for the majority of its remaining employees.