Ascio: Tucows Inc. Acquires Wholesale Domain Registrar Ascio Technologies

TORONTO, March 19, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX, TSX:TC), a provider of network access, domain names and other Internet services, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire wholesale domain name registrar Ascio Technologies from CSC®. The transaction closed yesterday.Tucows will pay $29.44 million and the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to operating cash flow. The purchase price will be funded through Tucows' existing credit facility.The acquisition of Ascio adds approximately 1.8 million domains under management and approximately 500 active resellers. The Ascio reseller base fits squarely with Tucows' core customer profile -- ISPs, web hosting companies and website builders serving quality businesses that reward outstanding customer service with long-term loyalty.Ascio also expands Tucows' product portfolio with one of the most complete offerings of country code TLDs (ccTLDs) and generic TLDs (gTLDs) in the world.Jørgen Christensen, Managing Director of Ascio commented, "This deal is all about focus. We wanted to find a buyer who would focus on our resellers so that CSC can focus on managing brands for the biggest and best companies around the world.""This acquisition makes perfect sense for Ascio's resellers, our business and our shareholders," added David Woroch, Tucows' Executive Vice President of Domains. "Ascio's resellers get a customer-focused provider that is investing in its wholesale channel. Tucows gets an excellent business with a deeply experienced team, additional domain products, including more than 50 ccTLDs, and a high-quality customer base that strengthens our European presence. And our shareholders get the benefit of Tucows' even greater scale and efficiency as the world's largest wholesale domain registrar."The contribution from this transaction, based on a partial year and transaction costs, was contemplated in the 2019 guidance provided by Tucows on February 13, 2019. Pre-acquisition, the Ascio business generated approximately $4 million of annual EBITDA. Tucows is required to apply acquisition accounting to the assets and liabilities acquired, including fair valuation of the acquired deferred revenue balance, which will ...Full story available on Benzinga.com