NCC Group plc Acquires Open Registry group of companies

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Acquisition of European domain services businesses for up to £14.9m
 
NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC, "NCC Group" or "the Group"), the international, independent provider of Escrow, Assurance and Domain Services, has acquired the Belgium and Luxembourg based Open Registry group of companies ("Open Registry Group" or "OR") for a maximum consideration of £14.9m (€19.5m) in cash.
 
Open Registry Group is an independent group of domain service companies providing backend registry operations to brand customers, registrar and trademark validation services.
 
This acquisition will enable the Group to offer a one stop shop providing secure domain services to corporate customers globally, including both registry and registrar services, whilst ensuring that their brands are properly protected in the domain world.  
 
 
Rob Cotton, NCC Group Chief Executive, said:
 
"The addition of registry, registrar and trademark protection services to our own web security capabilities, in our Domain Services division, will provide us with a considerable competitive advantage in this fast growing and extremely dynamic market.
 
"With the introduction of thousands of new gTLDS - 22 to over 1,400 in the next year alone, corporates are looking to outsource the registration, brand protection and management of their web presence securely. 
 
"The business is a highly respected ICANN and industry player.  It significantly increases our presence and profile in the domain services sector and mainland Europe, as well as bringing a number of leading blue chip technology customers to the Group.
 
"We are delighted that OR's very experienced management team is staying with us and look forward to working with them as we together enhance the business' reputation as it benefits from the Group's scale, reach, security expertise and experience in growing multi-national services businesses."