OAKLAND, Calif., and HAMPSHIRE, England -- De La Rue Cash Systems has purchased an 85 percent interest in Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems in a deal that could be worth $35 million.
De La Rue will pay a base price of $23 million to purchase Sequoia from its parent company, Ireland-based Jefferson Smurfit Group PLC. De La Rue will make further payments over the next three years based on growth targets that could reach another $12 million. Peter Cosgrove will remain with Sequoia as president and chief executive officer.
Jefferson Smurfit, a paperboard producer and leading European corrugated box manufacturer, will retain a 15 percent ownership share in the company for at least three years. According to Sequoia's Web site, Jefferson Smurfit is selling its controlling interest in Sequoia in order to concentrate on its core business.
Sequoia Voting Systems, which traces its history back more than 100 years to the development of mechanical lever voting machines, is a provider of touchscreen voting systems. The company has installed more than 35,000 Direct Record Electronic voting machines in 16 states.
"De La Rue's acquisition of Sequoia is of significant relevance to the U.S. election industry," Cosgrove said in a news release, "because of De La Rue's depth of experience providing secure transactions for state and federal governments worldwide."
For De La Rue, a major supplier of cash dispensing technologies to the ATM industry, the deal is the second acquisition in recent months. In late March, the company purchased the banking automation business of Papelaco, a supplier of ATMs in Portugal and Spain (See story: De La Rue buys Papelaco's automation business).
De La Rue Chief Executive Officer Ian Much said the Sequoia purchase made sense when considered alongside the company's core business.
"Voting and election management has many parallels with our traditional business of protecting financial value, personal identity, and brand integrity," Much said in a news release.
