Brennan IT supercharges via MOQdigital acquisition
The August acquisition bid for ASX-listed tech consultancy MOQdigital has been finalised, making its buyer Brennan IT the largest locally-owned systems integrator in Australia.
Sydney-based Brennan IT has claimed the mantle of Australia’s largest locally-owned systems integrator upon its successful $23 million acquisition of MOQdigital.
Following on from its acquisition of Clade Solutions earlier this year, the latest purchase has added more than 400 employees to its overall headcount and seen the formation of a dedicated data analytics, consulting and digital transformation division: Brennan IT.
According to Brennan founder and managing director Dave Stevens, the company will continue to pursue an aggressive growth strategy and targeted acquisitions in a bid to take on competing global providers, stating the company’s clear differentiator is that it is able to apply local solutions to overcome issues unique to Australia.
Brennan will also be exploring capital-raising options – with a potential eye to the ASX in the near future.
“We are excited to be taking this step forward in our vision to become Australia’s largest technology company,” Stevens stated. “With over 25 years in business, our heritage as one of Australia’s largest and most successful managed services providers has recently been bolstered by two acquisitions. Our strategy of fully integrating acquisitions means our customers and our staff quickly get the full benefits of the merged entities.”
Stevens – who already held 8.6 percent of MOQ’s shares on issue prior to takeover – established Brennan in Sydney in 1997 before expanding to Melbourne and Brisbane two years later and shortly after landing on the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 list. The company has since added overseas outlets in India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, and says its on track to generate revenues of $275 million over the next twelve months.
The MOQ acquisition marks another step in the consolidation of Australia’s IT services and consulting industry, with MOQdigital itself having picked up Dienst Consulting mid-last year. Likewise, Clade Solutions, bought by Brennan at the start of the year, was coming off the back of its own acquisition of Simient the year prior.
Meanwhile, managed services rival Atturra, which Brennan outbid for MOQ, has been busy scooping up its own bolt-ons.
“Spending on IT services in Australia is expected to reach around $39 billion by the end of this year, as a result of businesses shifting their focus from short-term projects to adapt to Covid-19 to longer-term strategic projects,” Stevens said on his expectations for Brennan’s continued double-digit growth. “The biggest driver of that growth is in business and technology consulting, which will grow to nearly $8.5 billion across Australia by the end of the year.”
