Lugano, Switzerland and Auckland, New Zealand (March 3rd, 2014) — Datamars, a leading global supplier of high performance, RFID-based solutions and Zee Tags, a company dedicated to livestock identification solutions today announced that they have signed an agreement, which transfers all assets, products and brands of Zee Tags to Datamars.
Datamars and Zee Tags are combining their businesses to leverage the respective strengths of the two companies internationally. This coming together creates one of the strongest companies in the animal identification sector and combines the best product portfolios with state-of-the-art, global manufacturing, and the best worldwide teams to support an ever-growing customer base.
“Our goal is to further increase our capability to deliver high quality products in the shortest possible time to our clients, and in Datamars we have found the ideal partner with highly complementary skills and markets. We are extremely excited to be able to serve more clients faster, with additional and improved products in additional global markets,” comments Mike Gardner, Zee Tags’ founder.
“We look forward to continued growth in all three of our core market segments – companion animal ID, livestock ID and textile ID,” comments Klaus Ackerstaff, CEO of the Datamars Group. “Our vertically integrated manufacturing processes with plants around the world allow us to continually and successfully introduce state-of-the-art RFID technology developed to meet the particular needs and challenges that are unique to the industries we serve. We are excited to bring Zee Tags into the fold.”
With the addition of Zee Tags, Datamars is now wholly owned by funds advised by Columna Capital. Managing Partner Rory Devlin says, “We are excited by the opportunity to bring together these two great companies. In particular there is an excellent match between Datamars and Zee Tags that allows us to improve worldwide customer service and strengthen the organization. We look forward to continued support of Datamars’ growth in the coming years.”
About Datamars
Datamars is the global leader for high-performance RFID solutions for the companion animal, livestock and textile identification markets. Our expertise, track record of technological innovation and profound understanding of customers’ needs have earned Datamars a reputation for unsurpassed quality and performance. Datamars employs approximately 700 people with offices in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Datamars is a private company, headquartered in Bedano, Switzerland. For more information, please visit the datamars.com.
About Zee Tags
Zee Tags Ltd is a company dedicated to the development and production of innovative and high quality livestock identification tags and applicator devices. The company has been in existence for over 20 years and distributes its products in over 50 countries globally. For more information, please visit www.zeetags.com.
About Columna Capital
Columna Capital is a private equity firm focusing on investments in mid-market companies with strong growth potential. Columna is an entrepreneurial and active investor, working closely with management teams to support their companies’ portfolio development. Founded in 2009 and with offices in London and Milan, Columna Capital specializes on secondary direct investments throughout Europe.