Green Packet and Yen Global tie up

Mobile solutions provider to buy substantial stake in IoT firm

PETALING JAYA: Mobile broadband and networking solutions provider Green Packet Bhd is going into the Internet of Things (IoT) space by acquiring a stake in loss-making Yen Global Bhd.

Sources said Green Packet would take up a substantial stake of about 20% in Yen Global, which is involved in the sale of wireless broadband products and the IoT business.

IoT has been hailed as the next big digital revolution, connecting millions of everyday objects using inexpensive microsensors so that things like thermostats, cars, door locks and even pet trackers have network connectivity.

In other words, it allows for signals to be sent and received from these objects.

Buying into Yen Global is also part of an investment strategy that Green Packet is pursuing, according to the source.

An announcement on this is expected this week.

The source noted that by investing in Yen Global, Green Packet would gain access into areas that it was not already in.

Likewise, Green Packet would be able to add value to Yen Global, which would be able to ride on Green Packet’s wide marketing network.

“It will be synergistic in that sense,” the source said.

He said Green Packet’s existing business was supplying home modems in the wireless space.

“That’s where it has been selling its products worldwide, almost 95% of its sales are global.

“But there are two areas that it is not in at the moment that Yen Global is; one is Yen Global is selling wired modems to wired telecommunications operators which Green Packet doesn’t as it does not have the necessary products, and the second involves the IoT space where Green Packet has identified a few areas that it would like to be involved in,” said the source.

Yen Global is seeing a rejuvenation as its apparel production business takes a step back to its IoT operations.

Recall, Taiwanese global provider of wireless broadband solutions and IoT player, Gemtek Technology Co Ltd, had raised its stake in the company to 30% last month.

The entry of Gemtek in June sealed the position of Yen Global in the telecommunications, and specifically, the IoT space.

Earlier this year, Yen Global had announced that it was moving into the telecommunications space with the acquisition of a little-known private firm called VLT Wholesale Sdn Bhd, now known as Atilze Digital.

Atilze later inked a partnership with Gemtek to market the latter’s broadband, long-term evolution and IoT telecommunications products.

Gemtek, which is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and which reports annual revenue of over US$1bil, is also a pioneer member of the LoRa Alliance, an open non-profit association for driving the adoption of IoT.

LoRa is an open standard for low power wide area networks (LPWANs), which are created to connect low-power devices such as sensors over a wide area at lower prices.

Atilze chief executive officer Gerard Lim recently told StarBiz that Gemtek supported its operations both technically in terms of supplying ready-solutions as well as business development activities.

Atilze also said last month that it was partnering the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp to “build city-wide IoT sensor networks using LoRa technology”. The single largest shareholder in Yen Global is Gemtek.

Green Packet will likely become the second-largest shareholder, if the deal goes through. The stake purchase, which is expected to cost some RM20mil, is expected to be funded internally by Green Packet and with some bank borrowings. Based on the firm’s latest financial results, Green Packet has cash and bank balances of about RM56mil.

At yesterday’s close, Yen Global shares finished up 0.58% to 86 sen, while Green Packet ended flat at 23 sen.