Business

Romanian IT firm Bittnet continues expansion with Crescendo purchase

Dendrio, part of the Romanian IT group Bittnet, has announced the purchase of Crescendo, a supplier of personalised IT&C applications and business services, for 2.3 million euros. Crescendo’s operations will be integrated into Bittnet’s structures and marketed under the Dendrio brand.

“We are proud to announce this deal since we believe it is a game changer for all our shareholders as well as the Romanian IT market as a whole,” said Cristian Logofatu, one of the founders and CFO at Bittnet. “Since listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, we have always strived to develop and grow our business year-by-year. We identified several years ago that consolidation in the IT&C market will be one of the best ways to build our position locally and internationally. We believe that this deal will have positive consequences that will redefine our status of a listed company as it will contribute significantly to our goal of building a regional IT player originating from Romania.”

Jointly, the companies aim to strengthen their position in Romania, enter foreign markets and extend their delivery capacity to the CEE level. As a result of the merger, Dendrio will be able to benefit from a stable business structure, extended personnel as well as enlarged portfolio of customers, products and services. Following the merger, Bittnet estimates that by the end of 2019 the group of companies will reach 120 million lei (around 25.7 million euros) in consolidated revenues, surpassing the 100 million lei Bittnet set for itself earlier this year as a target to reach by 2020.

“Our discussions with Bittnet started from the desire to create a Romanian player able to build a significant position on the regional IT market,” added Marius Tulea, CEO and significant shareholder at Crescendo. “This deal proves that Romanian entrepreneurs can reach an understanding and build something together, sharing trust and common goals. With our joint expertise and merged capacities we are dedicated to building a company that will be able to successively expand and create a name and reputation also abroad.”

This will be the fourth acquisition for Bittnet Group in the course of last 12 months. In the third quarter of 2017, Bittnet acquired Gecad, an IT services integrator, which is now present on the
Romanian market under Dendrio brand. In July 2018, Bittnet has finalised the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in Elian Solutions, an ERP provider and in August 2018, of 25 per cent in Equatorial Gaming, a game-based learning company.