Ultra bolts-on data security operations in £12m deal

DEFENCE supplier Ultra Electronics, which has operations in Birmingham and Rugeley, has completed the £12m acquisition of data security firms Barron McCann Technology and Barron McCann Payments.

BeMac provides baseline grade crypto and key management services to the UK government, military, law enforcement agencies and the finance sector.

Ultra said the bolt-on would broaden its crypto portfolio beyond the high-grade domain and also provide access to the lucrative financial services market.

The BeMac businesses employ 58 staff and have a LIST-X engineering facility based in Derby and a head office in Letchworth. BeMac will be absorbed into Ultra’s existing AEP Networks business in the Tactical & Sonar Systems Division.

Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive of Ultra, said: “I am pleased that we have been able to add BeMac to the group. This acquisition fits Ultra’s strategy of having an end-to-end crypto capability within the cyber security market.

“Under Ultra ownership, BeMac can exploit its strong synergies with AEP Networks and so augment planned growth in international markets.”

Barron McCann has a separate IT installation service holding named Barron McCann Ltd, which is not part of this acquisition.