Acquisition - FAQ

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

Q: What is being announced?
LEKAB has today announced its acquisition of 21st Century Mobile (21st), a Swedish business mobile messaging company that streamlines communication from companies to their customers and employees through mobile messaging  channels. 21st was founded in Lund 2005 and is headquartered in Stockholm Sweden and has over 1500 customers across verticals such as e-health and utilities.

The acquisition was finalized and closed on April 22, 2022.

Q: What product & services is 21st offering?
21st offers a digital communication platform that creates and distributes targeted mobile messages across channels. The platform includes modules for incident information management and risk analysis.

Q: What product & services is LEKAB offering?
LEKAB offers digital tools and solutions for business messaging and automation. Our cloud-based communication platform, messaging APIs and, mobile channels help customers streamline and digitize their business and communication processes to engage the recipient in their preferred channel. LEKAB manage everything from complex enterprise messaging solutions to smart and efficient process automation. We want to make a difference for our customers by being a reliable consultant, partner and technology supplier.

Q: What is the deal rationale for LEKAB's acquisition of 21st?

The acquisition of 21st is part of LEKAB's growth strategy and aims to strengthen and enhance the offer to existing and prospective customers. Together with 21st, we are modernizing our product portfolio, broadening it with more advanced and appropriate solutions, thus making it more accessible to more companies that want to future-proof their communication with tomorrow's rich messaging services.

LEKAB is a Nordic player in business mobile messaging, combining system integration with process automation to deliver customer or employee experiences that exceed the recipients' expectations. Acquiring 21st reinforces LEKAB's position as one of the leaders in the Nordic business messaging segment, offering technologies, solutions and value-added services to create and distribute messages to the right person at the right time. To help companies deliver more relevant, interactive and personalised customer- or employee experiences across mobile channels.

The two companies combined had an annual turnover of 205 MSEK and an EBITDA of 33 MSEK during the last financial year ending in December 2021. 

Q: Who are 21st's customers?
21st's customer base mainly covers Sweden and Norway, and includes leading brands such as Vattenfall, Braflyg, Destination Gotland and Opus Dental.


2. BUSINESS CONTINUITY

Q: How will the two companies operate?
The two companies will begin working towards a combined entity immediately and continue servicing the products, platforms, and contracts that exist for their client bases.

Q: How is this acquisition expected to impact the ongoing development of both companies' products?
After the deal closes, LEKAB will continue to maintain and develop all products according to plan but will, of course, integrate or even migrate some of our existing products over the next coming six months to be able to offer better solutions to our current and prospective customers.

Q: What will happen to LEKAB's and 21st's current customers?
Both companies' customers will continue to be served as usual. No major changes are anticipated for either company’s offering.

Q: Who will be leading the new entity?
The new entity will be headed by Pekka Ollila, CEO of LEKAB.

Q: What will be the new entity’s formal name?
The two companies will retain their individual corporate names for the time being.

Q: Will 21st's be integrated under the LEKAB brand, or will it maintain its brand?
LEKAB and 21st will initially continue to operate under existing company brand names in the journey towards a new common brand and value offering.

Q: Will 21st employees be retained?
One of the reasons behind the acquisition is to broaden the know-how and competence and use the combined capabilities to keep the current business strong. The intent is to retain all 21st employees. The purpose of this acquisition is to drive growth for LEKAB. Not inclusive of this acquisition, LEKAB is also looking to hire more staff. As with any acquisition, though, we will continue to look closely at the specific business needs and make the right personnel decisions based on those needs for the long term.

Q: How is LEKAB's acquisition of 21st expected to benefit 21st customers?
On a day-to-day, it’s business as usual only now we have new resources and capabilities to continue driving value for our current and prospective customers in the Nordics faster. 21st customers will benefit from increased product development for each company's products. In addition, 21st customers will benefit from access to LEKAB's products and services, customer support team and partner ecosystem.

Q: Can I still purchase products from 21st?
Yes. All products continue to be available until further notice. Don't hesitate to contact your existing 21st sales account manager to assist you if any questions should occur.

Q: Should 21st customers continue to call 21st for account management and customer support?
Yes. 21st customers should continue to rely on existing relationships.

We will communicate any further changes and transitions through our channels.