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Actum Electronics purchases Connecta

13 June 2007 News

Actum Electronics has announced that it has purchased the entire business of Connecta as a going concern. The Connecta business will be incorporated into Actum Electronics as a division effective 1 June 2007.

Actum Electronics has been in the electronics industry for over 28 years, initially as a supplier of interconnect products and passive components including the renowned ERNI connector range. In 2004 the business was bought by the current management team; Greg Barron and Kevin Klaff, and has since gone through a substantial growth phase including acquisitions and a broadening of the product range.

From left to right, Greg Barron (Actum), Colin Pepin (Connecta) and Kevin Klaff (Actum)
From left to right, Greg Barron (Actum), Colin Pepin (Connecta) and Kevin Klaff (Actum)

The first development of this new phase was when it was appointed as the exclusive representative for the Schroff products. Schroff is a leading global supplier of electronic packaging products and equipment. The Schroff brand is well established as a quality product and under the Actum banner this brand has grown from strength to strength in the South African market. Management is confident that this growth phase will continue into the future.

The next step in the expansion was the purchase of the Altico Static Control Products business in 2005. Altico has been operating for 15 years as a focused provider of ESD products and solutions. The business offers a complete solution for ESD control including audits of premises, ESD flooring and ESD products. The Altico division was incorporated into the group as a division of Actum Electronics.

Further expansion of the Actum Electronics product range included the KVG Crystals and Oscillators products. KVG is a German supplier of quality crystals and oscillators and the company has successfully marketed and developed this range at the top end of the electronics and military industry.

Towards the end of 2006, the company made a strategic move into the RF cable and connectors market. To facilitate this expansion, a leading RF coaxial expert was recruited to drive this division. Management realised early on that the key to succeeding in this market is to have stock available for clients. A shipment of coaxial military specified cable and connectors was thus imported to ensure adequate stock levels are maintained.

The Connecta business was founded by Colin Pepin 25 years ago, initially to represent Burndy products in South Africa. The Burndy product range later became the Souriau range which is a supplier of multiway circular and rectangular military and industrial electronic connectors. Through the 25 years the Connecta product range was expanded to include spring contact probes, Rosenberger coaxial connectors, laminated screened windows and EMI-RFI screening shielding and filtering.

"The company philosophy has always been to concentrate on a focused product range and give customers the professional service to which they are entitled," says Peppin. "We realised early on in our discussions with Actum Electronics that our businesses shared a similar philosophy and that they would be a natural fit."

"We have successfully incorporated various new product ranges as well as the Altico business into the Actum Group. One of our goals for 2007 was to build on this base. We found that the Connecta products were an excellent fit and we are especially excited about the potential of the Souriau and Rosenberger products," says Greg Barron.

Kevin Klaff explains: "Our strategy after purchasing the Actum Electronics business was always to look for similar businesses in the industry to expand our product offering to our client base. We realised early on that it is a small industry with a fairly constant customer base. We therefore wanted to ensure that we could continue to provide this customer base with existing and new products. Our focus has always been to provide a personal service and a quality product. We already have good relations with our customers and by incorporating similar businesses such as Connecta into the Actum group, it affords us the opportunity to provide these customers with an expanded product offering."



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