Brussels-headquartered data and analytics group Kpler has bolstered its presence in the maritime space with the acquisition of ship tracking companies MarineTraffic and FleetMon, the company said on Wednesday.
Tracking the movement of ships has become an integral part of trading strategies, together with the need for more corporate compliance due to a raft of Western sanctions imposed on oil exporting countries including Russia, Iran and Venezuela - helping to drive demand for real-time ship tracking data, known as AIS.
Kpler has made five acquisitions in the last 18 months and secured over $200 million investment funding in 2022 from private equity firms Five Arrows and Insight Partners, the company said, adding that the acquisitions will mean it will have more than a million active users across the wider maritime and commodity industries.
"The deal is driven by Kpler’s objective to accelerate its expansion in the maritime and shipping world," Kpler chief executive François Cazor said.
"Kpler's data complement that of MarineTraffic and FleetMon, utilizing Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) as the foundation for its data and analytics. By owning AIS data, Kpler aims to innovate more quickly in maritime data solutions."
Greece-based MarineTraffic, one of the world's leading providers of ship tracking and maritime analytics, had acquired FleetMon prior to its acquisition by Kpler.
"The deal is a double acquisition. MarineTraffic acquires FleetMon, and Kpler acquires MarineTraffic," Cazor said, declining to provide further details on the transaction.
(Reuters - Reporting by Jonathan Saul/Editing by Nick Zieminski)