tTech founder to stick with company after selling full shareholdings
Published:Friday | July 19, 2024 | 12:06 AM
The new leadership at managed IT services company tTech has installed a new chief executive, Kevin Gordon, who replaces Norman Chen, immediately. Chen, a co-owner of tTech, who who ran the company from December 2022 following the departure of the former CEO, will still act in a consultative role and retains his seat on the board. He is still the second-largest shareholder in tTech.
Gordon is part of the duo that owns Simply Secure Limited, the company that acquired a 49.1 per cent stake in tTech. Two major shareholders, Edward ‘Teddy’ Alexander and G. Christopher Reckord, sold a total of 52,012,834 tTech shares, representing just under a half of tTech Limited’s issued shares.
Those shares were worth more than $114 million on the day the sale was announced. They are now worth $166 million.
Simply Secure Limited is owned by Gordon and Rob Mayo-Smith, both of whom have now joined tTech’s board. Both men also own Simply Secure LLC, a managed security services provider based in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.
Alexander sold all his shares in tTech, but he tells the Financial Gleaner that this doesn’t mean he’s riding off into the sunset. He will remain as chairman of the 18-year-old company.
“tTech is basically my baby. You want to make sure that the child is going well, is healthy, and is on a path that will lead to further success,” Alexander said, in affirmation of his plan to stick with the company which he and other IT professionals established in 2006. The company went public in 2016 and is listed on the junior stock exchange.
Alexander said that while tTech will remain in its old stomping ground of managed IT services, the acquisition by Simply Secure means it will be focusing more on managed security services, in the vein of its largest owner.
“We want to grow the company in the area of managed security services; we won’t be giving up what we do,” he said.
“In the long run, we’d like to see integration of the services across both companies, but those changes will take time to be realised,” Alexander added, while noting that the changes won’t happen overnight.
Of the 52 million shares sold, Alexander says he sold all his holdings totalling 46,712,834. Reckord, who was the CEO up to 2022, sold 5.3 million of his 11.72 million shares.
At 49.1 per cent interest, Simply Secure won’t have to make a mandatory takeover offer for all shares. That’s only triggered when ownership rises above 50 per cent.