(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — New Zealand telecommunications provider Kordia (www.kordia.co.nz) announced on Monday that its ISP Orcon (www.orcon.co.nz)) has acquired iServe (www.iserv.co.nz), the second largest web hosting provider in the country, according to reports by The National Business Review.
The aquisition, which was made for an undisclosed amount, took effect on May 1.
With 35,000 customers under its belt, iServe is the second largest web host in the country, next to Iconz (www.iconz.co.nz), which also owns Freeparking and Webfarm.
iServe provides a range of website hosting, server hosting, and domain name registration.
With this latest acquisition, Orcon and iServe will collectively host 20 percent of all .nz addresses, says an Orcon spokeswoman.
Ranking in as number 45 on 2005′s Deloitte Fast 50 list of New Zealand’s fastest growing companies, iServe remains “very profitable,” says company founder and general manager Joy Cottle.
She will resume her position in an open-ended contract along with fellow co-founder and COO Kerian Hibbs.
In 2006, iServe announced a $7 million project to construct New Zealand’s largest virtual web hosting service, which it planed to fund by selling $2,995 and $3,995 life-time hosting plans.
The past couple of years has seen a series of large investments by Kordia, including the purchase of Orcon in June 2007, the building of a new digital radio network with Motorola, which was launched earlier this year, regional fiber-optic projects, and implementing a new metro wi-fi network in Auckland, which expanded in January.
As a result, the teleco’s debt has risen to $125 million for the six months to December 31, 2008.
Despite this, the company says it has kept back on track with its debt covenants, which it expects to maintain.
The company projects a profit of about $4.5 million forecast for the second half of 2009.
