DDLS, the information and communications technology training business formerly owned by Dimension Data, has been acquired for $4.7 million by asset management company, Arowana International (ASX:AWN).
Arowana said in a statement published on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that the acquisition was part of its strategy to build an education platform group, EdventureCo.
Along with DDLS, it will also involve Arowana’s building and construction training business, Everthought Education and will be headed up Sean Steele.
Arowana purchased DDLS, which had been known as Dimension Data Learning Solutions, from the Australian College of Training and Employment (ACTE) Group, which bought the technology training provider from Dimension Data in October last year for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition will be funded through existing financial capacity, payable in tranches before June 30.
Arowana said it will focus on integrating DDLS within EdventureCo, which will be underpinned by the introduction of an operating platform comprising of common enterprise systems, processes and protocols to take advantage of the significant scope for operational engineering and optimisation.
DDLS provides vendor and industry certified courses for companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, CompTIA, PMI and VMware.
It has also maintained a three year average revenue of $37.1 million, EBITDA of $2 million and EBIT of $1.3 million.
DDLS houses six campuses across Australia, including the ACT, and its client base is made up of government and corporate organisation including Department of Defence, Australian Federal Police, CSIRO, Australian Taxation Office, Telstra, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Boeing.
DDLS currently has 85 employees with more than 150 contract trainers, delivering training to more than 11,000 students.
DDLS was founded in 1987 and is only one of two Microsoft Gold Learning partners in the Asia Pacific. Additional accreditations include Cisco Learning Solution Partner, VMware Authorised Training Centre, Citrix Authorised Learning Centre, Check Point Authorised Training Centure and ITIL Authorised Training Organisation.
