Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location based solutions, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 76% controlling interest in Georigin (Pty) Ltd. With headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa, Georigin is specialized in data collection of West, East & Southern Africa, covering a total population of over 500 million people. Georigin also has a 49% interest in MapIT, a Pretoria, South Africa, based company that owns the rights to a map database of South Africa and Nigeria. The acquisition of Georigin is designed to significantly strengthen the Company’s operations in Africa and its direct interaction with customers and other partners in the region. The closing of the transaction is subject to the satisfaction of certain usual and customary closing conditions.
Jack Reinelt, Tele Atlas COO & Managing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said this decision is yet another significant step forward for Tele Atlas: “Our commercial partners are increasingly looking for more data in this region, and we see this acquisition as the best platform to dramatically increase the content of our maps for the African continent, including high quality points of interest (POI’s), navigation attributes and addresses. Since the area is a fast growing tourism destination, digital maps of the region are increasingly important to Tele Atlas’ automotive, portable navigation, mobile and internet application partners. Leading countries like South Africa and Nigeria (together >180 million people) are truly emerging markets with economic growth of about 5% year over year. We see very strong growth of mapping and GPS-enabled navigation products in these very outdoor oriented societies.”
Reinelt continues: “We started our co-operation with Georigin and MapIT one year ago because they have the highest quality digital maps in the region. The well trained and professional staff of 80 people, both through permanent employees and contractors, at Georigin has very strong competencies in data collection and product creation technologies. The company also has a well established customer base in the private and government sector. Georigin’s experience in gathering digital data of much of the African continent will enable us to bring that information sooner to the market.”
Georigin co-Founder and Managing Director, Pieter Grobbelaar, who will continue to lead the activities of Georigin, said: “We are proud to be part of Tele Atlas. The integration of the valuable digital information at Georigin together with the global scope of Tele Atlas and its network of global partners, are the best guarantee for all parties involved, like customers and employees, that we will continue and even speed up the provision of high quality digital maps of the African continent.”