Australian share registry firm Computershare has acquired Germany's SLS Group, a provider of shareholder meeting services, for A$24 million in cash.
Based in Schwabhausen, near Munich, SLS Group has been providing AGM services to German companies for 26 years. The company provides technology products such as Q&A back office systems and Internet proxy voting services to clients including Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa and Allianz.
Chris Morris, Computershare CEO, says Germany is a key market for the vendor, which has grown its presence in country over the past 12 months: "The acquisition fits very well with Computershare's core competencies and is a big positive for our customers in Germany and throughout Europe."
Computershare says it expects the acquisition to be earnings per share positive in fiscal 2006.