Advantech's Acquisition of French POS and KIOSK Brand Company Aures: Advancing Towards Global Leadership in Intelligent Retail

Advantech (TWSE: 2395), a global leader in industrial IoT, has announced its acquisition of Aures Technologies SA, a French company renowned for its POS and KIOSK brands. This strategic move aims to strengthen Advantech's global coverage in smart retail products and services, advancing its position among leading smart retail solution providers worldwide. Advantech will acquire Aures through transactions with the major shareholder and public tender offer, at price per share not exceeding 6.7 euros (The total number of outstanding shares is 3,938,173 shares), with the potential to acquire up to 100% equity. Additionally, Advantech will subscribe newly issued convertible bonds from Aures, totaling 5 million euros to support its working capital. The entire transaction will proceed following completion of internal approval processes by both parties and regulatory approval from relevant authorities.

MC Chiang, Vice President of Advantech Service-IoT Group, stated that the global retail industry has gone through significant challenges in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, global inflation, and interest rate hikes. Simultaneously, the rise of AI and shifts in consumer behavior have spurred industry transformation and consolidation trends. In response to these changes, Advantech has been continuously deepening its presence and expanding its hardware and software product portfolio. Aures is a well-known brand in the western market, with excellent design and development capabilities in POS and KIOSK products. Leveraging Advantech's robust expertise in intelligent systems and global logistics network, the collaboration of Advantech and Aures (A+A) holds promising prospects for both companies, their employees, customers, partners, and the global smart retail sector as a whole.

Patrick Cathala, Founder and Chairman of Aures, expressed that Advantech not only possesses profound product technology and a globally streamlined operation and manufacturing system but also has a long-standing reputable brand. These are the key factors that led us to choose Advantech as our partner. We believe that Advantech can empower Aures to extend its accumulated brand heritage and value proposition, injecting energy to jointly create better solutions.

K.C. Liu, Chairman of Advantech commented on the acquisition, stating that Advantech has been actively initiating its third transformation in recent years, redirecting to a sector-driven strategy. Among these markets, smart retail has been identified as one with significant potential. Aures and Advantech highly complement each other in terms of regional coverage, product portfolio, and organizational capabilities, which also reveals Advantech’s shift from a traditional product-driven approach to deepening its presence and operations in each strategy-focused sector. With the core direction of "AIoT+ Edge computing," Advantech aims to create more profound impact and value in the future.

As a publicly listed company in France, Aures has established a strong presence for its POS equipment in Europe, Australia, and the United States, boasting high brand recognition and a robust sales network. Notably, its subsidiary, Retail Technology Group, based in the United States, serves as a leading provider of retail IT system services with a nationwide service network. With this merger, coupled with Advantech's longstanding commitment in the smart city and retail sectors, will significantly enhance the global presence of A+A in the sector.

In the future, Advantech and Aures will leverage strengths and business foundation of each other to actively promote global business expansion and upgrade product offerings, aiming to become leaders in global integrated smart retail solutions and services. Following the acquisition, Aures will maintain independent operations, while Advantech will assist in optimizing its management system, creating synergies through product roadmap integration, technical support, and cross-selling initiatives.