Bittnet Group carries out a new transaction in the field of cybersecurity
Bucharest, 13 December 2021 – Bittnet (BNET), a group of IT companies listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, announces the signing of a new transaction in the cybersecurity sector by acquiring a 74% majority stake in Global Resolution Experts (GRX), a company specialized in providing information security advisory.
“This transaction marks a new major stage in the development of our group. Through this transaction, a new division – cybersecurity is born within the Bittnet Group. The expertise within Dendrio, together with the investments in ISEC in August this year and now in GRX, forms the most extensive professional services team in the cybersecurity sector, with over 30 specialists having over 100 certifications in this field. In 2021, the three entities – Dendrio, ISEC, and GRX- have revenues of over 20 million lei from hardware, software, and professional services in information security. Given our investment in the Computer Learning Center, a market leader in providing cybersecurity training services, we estimate that Bittnet Group is the market leader in Romania in the cybersecurity sector in terms of business and service portfolio. Therefore, in 2022, we plan to launch a new brand dedicated to this sector through which we intend to be present in Europe in the next five years,” stated Mihai Logofatu, CEO of Bittnet Group
GRX was founded in 2015 by Romanian entrepreneurs Cristian Sandescu and Mihnea Calin. The company’s mission was to offer professional and personalized services in cybersecurity to large clients in Romania and the European Union. During this time, the company has reached a number of 20 internationally recognized experts in the information security market, offering audit and advisory services to the traditional banking, insurance, public sector industries, and startups, thanks to their expertise in technologies and state-of-the-art DevSecOps practices. Following the signing of the transaction, Bittnet Group will own 74% of GRX, while the rest of the shares will be owned by the company’s founders.
“The investment of Bittnet group in GRX strengthens our recent years’ efforts and allows us to begin a phase of accelerated expansion in the coming years at European level, making it possible to scale our skills to a growing number of potential customers, as well as raising the human and capital resources needed to sustain this growth,” stated Cristian Sandescu, cofounder GRX.
In 2022, Bittnet Group will launch a new entity in the field of cybersecurity consisting of ISEC and GRX companies and will continue to invest in developing the service portfolio and expertise of this new company. At the same time, the group aims to list the new entity on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the second half of the year. In this regard, in the first three months of 2022, Bittnet Group will set up a Board of Advisors for the new brand, which will support the management in achieving the business objectives for the 2022-2026 period.
The new entity will provide services in areas where its team has technical expertise, such as IT compliance audit for various standards, such as the Financial Supervision Authority, the Romanian Digitalization Authority, the National Bank of Romania or the National Cybersecurity Incident Response Center – CERT-RO, penetration testing services for web applications and IT infrastructure for clients in Romania and the European Union and design, implementation and maintenance services for IT management and information security systems. At the same time, the company, due to the specializations within the teams, will offer design services for controls and IT security systems to be implemented, architectural design services, IT infrastructure technical solutions for the integration of financial information systems in the Public Cloud, and architectural design services, IT infrastructure technical solutions for the implementation of IT systems in the IT sector, but without participating in the implementation of those solutions to the final beneficiaries.
The acquisition of GRX and the development plans of the new brand within the Bittnet Group are based on the significant growth potential of the cybersecurity sector. According to various published reports, cyber-attacks and cybercrime are among the most significant threats globally. In Europe, these attacks have become more frequent and complex in recent years and will continue to increase in the future. Critical sectors such as transport, energy, health, and finance are increasingly based on digital technologies and will need cybersecurity solutions to protect them when such situations hit them. At the EU level, investments of 1.6 billion euros will be made through the Digital Europe program for the 2021-2027 period in cybersecurity projects for public administrations, companies, and individuals. Considering all these factors, Bittnet Group expects demand in this area to overgrow in the coming years.
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About Bittnet Group
Bittnet was founded in 2007 in Bucharest, by brothers Mihai and Cristian Logofatu, as a training and IT solutions company in Romania andabroad. Today, Bittnet is a group of IT companies that include the following brands: Bittnet Training, Dendrio, ELIAN Solutions, Equatorial Gaming, The eLearning Company, Softbinator, ISEC Associates, Computer Learning Center, IT Prepared and Nenos Software. The Bittnet Group is listed on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the symbol BNET. As of March 22, 2021, BNET shares are included in two global indices: FTSE Global Micro-Cap and FTSE Total-Cap.