iOCO has struck its second acquisition in 4 months, agreeing to purchase enterprise useful resource planning specialist Astraia Know-how as CEO Rhys Summerton makes good on his promise to return the group to “serial acquirer” standing.
The JSE-listed know-how group stated on Friday it has entered right into a binding settlement – signed on Thursday – to amass 100% of Astraia, a founder-led South African ERP options supplier specialising in cloud ERP implementations, monetary software program integration and enterprise course of optimisation.
iOCO didn’t disclose the acquisition worth, saying the deal is sufficiently small that it isn’t categorisable underneath JSE listings necessities and that the announcement was made voluntarily. A performance-based earn-out might turn out to be payable if Astraia hits agreed progress targets over the 18 months following the efficient date, anticipated inside six weeks.
The construction follows the template Summerton laid out to traders in March, when iOCO introduced the R52-million acquisition of the MySky Group – the previous EOH’s first deal in eight years. “We’re not making large bets at this level,” he stated on the time. “They’re smaller bets, they usually’re primarily based on a component of money, a component of shares which might be issued, and revenue warranties or revenue earn-outs.”
Summerton advised the identical investor name that iOCO had evaluated greater than 10 acquisition targets starting from R50-million to R700-million in fairness worth, and that MySky was a sign of intent reasonably than an remoted transaction. “We form of need to see iOCO get to this serial acquirer place once more. And for those who can actually pull that technique off, that’s if you get an actual re-rating within the worth of the enterprise,” he stated.
Break up
“There will not be many gamers which might be as effectively positioned to consolidate the market as iOCO is,” Summerton stated in March, citing the group’s sturdy steadiness sheet and the tax advantages that will accrue from consolidation. He outlined a capital allocation framework wherein free money movement – focused at greater than R400-million/12 months – can be cut up between share buybacks and acquisitions, arguing that deploying half on offers at 4 to 5 occasions earnings may add near R50-million in Ebitda yearly.
Learn: iOCO shifts to offence with first acquisition in eight years
In Friday’s announcement, Summerton stated: “The technique of constructing smaller acquisitions who can entry iOCO’s various and broad platform permit rapid scalability throughout merchandise and clients. We see the chance to speed up iOCO’s progress with our acquisition technique.”
iOCO stated the Astraia deal is anticipated to boost its infrastructure and managed providers capabilities whereas broadening its entry to enterprise clients and vendor ecosystems.
Learn: iOCO eyes return to ‘serial acquirer’ standing
The acquisition lands two weeks earlier than iOCO’s monetary year-end on 31 July. In March, Summerton upgraded the group’s full-year Ebitda steering to greater than R610-million, having already banked R305-million within the first half. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media
