HK Broadband To Buy Jardines IT Unit

Hong Kong Broadband Network says it has agreed to pay US$50 million for an IT unit belonging to the Jardine Matheson conglomerate.

The deal for Jardine OneSolution Holdings, or JOS, which has a 60-year history and employs 2,000 people across Asia, follows HKBN's earlier purchase of fixed-line telecoms operator WTT.

JOS provides system integration, IT solutions and technology consultation services to 10,000 customers, according to HKBN.

Billy Yeung, HKBN's enterprise solutions CEO, said the deal followed discussions with about 100 leading customers following the acquisition of WTT.

"By a mile, the most common desire was for a one-stop-shop ICT solutions partner, rather than separate IT, telecom and other vendors," he said.

"As such, we listened and actioned accordingly with the acquisition of JOS, such that we are now positioned to offer a single point of contact to handle all our customer’s growing ICT needs."

If approved by shareholders, the deal should be concluded by the final quarter of this year.