Astralas becomes Bastion’s fourth Aussie acquisition in two years
Kiwi cybersecurity consultancy Bastion has made its second Australian acquisition in the space of three months and fourth overall, now adding Melbourne-based security engineering firm Astralas.
Brought together by private equity firm Quadrant in 2023 and headquartered in Wellington, Bastion has since then been turning its attention to Australia, over the past year or so adding Cythera, Seamless Intelligence, and most recently Phronesis Security.
Founded in Melbourne by managing director Matt Lowth in 2021, Astralas has since grown to a team of more than 60 security and cloud advisors and technicians, with its acquisition taking Bastion’s count past 250 – over half of those now being based in Australia.
“Astralas’ reputation for technical excellence, pragmatic delivery and client focus makes them a highly strategic addition to the Bastion Group,” said chief executive Eugene Gibney. “Their capabilities will play an important role in our continued growth, and deliver richer, more integrated solutions for our customers in Australia and New Zealand.”
Bastion also noted Astralas’ complementary capabilities. With a focus on the on financial services, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure sectors and some of Australia’s largest organisations among its clientele, Astralas offers a range of services across security architecture, engineering and automation, identity and access management, and cloud consulting and engineering.
On the flip-side, the firm said Astralas’ clients will now gain access to the growing Bastion Group’s broad service portfolio, spanning managed security operations (including via a 24/7 security operations centre), cyber strategy, governance, risk & compliance, penetration testing, cloud and network security, and threat intelligence, delivered from six trans-Tasman offices.
“This merger allows us to offer our existing customers a significantly broader suite of services while introducing our specialised expertise to Bastion’s clientele, ensuring a depth of offering that is unmatched in the market,” Lowth said alongside Astralas’ director Ben Smith, with the pair having previously been principals at Deloitte after working together at its cyber acquisition Zimbani.
According to reports, Astralas’ owners will gain equity in Bastion along with some cash, with the rest of its management team remaining in place. Naturally, the two companies also cited shared values. Notably though, there is a degree of existing symmetry in their logos, with both replacing the ‘a’s in their name with a stick-less upward arrow, albeit of differing acuteness.
