Vista buys controlling stake in Latin American reseller Senda

Vista Group International has bought a 60 percent stake in Mexico's Senda Direccion Tecnologica, giving it control of the Latin American reseller of the cinema analytics firm's services.

The Auckland-based company has issued 115,764 shares, or about 0.1 percent of Vista, at a nominal price of $5.91 apiece, or some $684,000, as a partial payment for the 60 percent stake in Senda, which resells the New Zealand firm’s Vista Entertainment Solutions and Movio services in Central and South America. Vista declined to disclose the overall acquisition price.

The nominal issue price is a 7.1 percent premium to the $5.52 price Vista's shares closed on Friday. The stock rose 1.5 percent to $5.60 today.  

The deal will boost Vista's revenue and generate incrementally positive earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, which is tracking within guidance, it said.

Senda will be renamed Vista Latin America and continue to be run by founders Armando Mejias and Gustavo Ortega, who will report to Vista Entertainment Solutions chief executive Kimbal Riley.

"Senda joining Vista Group and the consequent formation of Vista Latin America will enable Vista directly engage with the burgeoning Latin American market and in particular enable closer relationships with three of the world's largest cinema exhibitors," Riley said in a statement.

Vista is scheduled to report first-half earnings on Thursday, and Forsyth Barr analyst James Bascand is forecasting a 92 percent gain in profit to $5.1 million on a 23 percent lift in revenue to $50.2 million.

The cinema software firm has been bolting on new acquisitions since it went public in 2014 and last year bought a 50 percent stake in London-based marketing firm Powster, a half-share of Dutch software developer Share Dimension, and 100 percent of New Zealand's flicks.co.nz, which provides information about movie sessions. It also embarked on a joint-venture with China's Beijing Weying Technology Co (WePiao), whose backers include the Wechat/Tencent Group, which the Kiwi company expects will expand its footprint in the Chinese film-going market.

(BusinessDesk)