The chairman of Insitec, Andrew McNeill, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Horizon Defence Systems (HDS), a previously wholly-owned trading entity of Horizon Group Holdings. Under the terms of the acquisition, all former HDS activities have been folded into the existing Insitec Military, Intelligence & Space Systems business, with HGH representatives being afforded two positions on the board of Insitec MIS Systems.
Insitec joined the HDS corporate-based Australian industry collaboration group over two years ago and has since played a lead role in substantiating the organisation’s bid for Joint Project 9111, the Australian Defence Force’s future Joint Command & Control capability technology and services business opportunity.
Insitec Managing Director Michael Branch said, “the merger of HDS into the Insitec MIS Systems business completes the first tranche of a wider growth initiative within the Insitec Group enterprise undertaken over the first half of 2020, with the aim of developing our business capabilities to better focus on evolving Australian Defence Force future military capability requirements, as canvassed in the 2020 Force Structure Plan. Insitec will now focus on the delivery of corporate services to an overall expanded Insitec Group comprising three separate trading entities: Insitec ICT, Insitec People and Insitec MIS Systems (incorporating HDS). Andy McNeill has been promoted to general manager for Insitec ICT, Alan Singer continues as the general manager of Insitec People, and Jarrod Smith (formerly the chief operating officer of HDS) has been appointed as general manager of Insitec MIS Systems.”
The chairman of HGH, Simon Truskett, said, “joining HDS with the Insitec MIS Systems business is fully consistent with the founding principles of our organisation. The HGH board has always maintained that activities such as inter-firm collaboration and market consolidation – achieved via the merging of complementary entities – provides an effective means to accelerating the ‘bulking-up’ of Australian defence-industrial capabilities in the quest to grow the nation’s sovereign Prime Systems Integrator base. Joining HDS with Insitec MIS Systems is an important first step to realising that ultimate vision.”