I.D. Systems, Inc., Woodcliff Lake, N.J., announced plans to acquire Pointer Telocation Ltd., Israel, for approximately $140 million.

Chris Wolfe, chief executive officer of I.D. Systems, and Ned Mavrommatis, chief financial officer of I.D. Systems, will lead the combined company with David Mahlab, chief executive officer of Pointer, to serve as CEO international and as a member of the PowerFleet board of directors. Yaniv Dorani, chief financial officer of Pointer, will serve as deputy to CEO international.

“We believe this is a transformative acquisition for I.D. Systems and our industry, as it combines our market and product leadership in North America with Pointer’s technology leadership, supply chain acumen and broad international footprint,” says Wolfe. “The acquisition builds on a 2-year strategic working relationship with David and the Pointer team, where we have been co-developing numerous award-winning products. Through our collaboration, it became increasingly evident that our business values and strategy are well aligned on the shared mission of improving our customers’ operations through innovative design, engineering discipline and building industrial-grade solutions. By unifying our businesses, we plan to create significant operational, technological and go-to-market synergies, which will enable faster time-to-market of revenue-generating new products and features. Realizing these product development and delivery opportunities is enhanced by the fact that we both utilize the same tech stack in our development and hosting environments. Together, I.D. Systems and Pointer will join a select group of IoT companies with more than 500,000 subscribers, and have the added benefit of being vertically integrated, unlike others in the market.”

Pointer Telocation is a provider of innovative telematics and mobile Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to the logistics (cargo, assets and containers) industry. Pointer’s cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform extracts and captures data from an organization's mission-critical mobility points, including drivers, routes, points of interest, logistics network, vehicles, trailers, containers and cargo. The platform then analyzes and converts this data into actionable intelligence optimizing customers’ assets and improving profitability.

“Pointer has built a successful and profitable company in the high-growth telematics industry,” adds Mahlab. “We have earned a reputation for technology-rich products, expert technical services, advanced software solutions and innovative IoT mobile solutions, all under a brand that is valued by our customers and the industry for quality and reliability. The combination of I.D. Systems and Pointer will deliver high-value, technology leading, IoT products globally. By expanding our product offerings and services, we expect to extend our leadership position in the growing mobile IoT and connected vehicle market, increase our penetration in North America, as well as expand our share of the global multi-billion-dollar IoT telematics market. I am extremely proud of Pointer’s track record of improving shareholder value, and this combination marks yet another step in delivering on our commitment to that goal.”
                                                                                                                          
“From a cross-selling standpoint, the acquisition is expected to provide exciting opportunities for both companies,” says Wolfe. “First, it should enable I.D. Systems to more effectively sell its solutions internationally through Pointer’s Cellocator division's direct and indirect channel network. Secondly, we plan to leverage our enterprise and SMB distribution channels to bring Pointer’s solutions to the massive North American market. Additionally, Pointer has been developing connected car and light duty truck solutions for years. By joining our platforms and solutions, we will create immediate leverage and greatly accelerate the combined company’s connected vehicle strategy. Ultimately, all vehicles will be connected in order to optimize the in-car and fleet-management experience, and our combined offering will help to better facilitate and fast-track this vision. Together, our combined team of exceptional employees will serve thousands of customers globally across 80 countries. These unique characteristics provide us not only with tremendous scale, but as important, position us to accelerate organic growth potential as well. Our combination establishes a robust global IoT platform with expansive product offerings, which we expect will enable us to capture greater share of the global multi-billion-dollar IoT telematics software and solutions market.”

The acquisition will be effected through a newly-created holding company structure, whereby I.D. Systems and Pointer will each become wholly-owned subsidiaries of PowerFleet, Inc.

Also, I.D. Systems appointed John Hunt, managing partner, and Anders Bjork, principal, to the PowerFleet board of directors, replacing directors Ken Brakebill and Christopher Formant.

“I am excited to welcome John, Anders and David to the board, especially during a time of rapid growth and transformation in our company,” says Michael Brodsky, chairman of I.D. Systems. “All three individuals bring a wealth of experience to our company, and we look forward to benefiting from their collective guidance and insights, as we seek to capitalize on the significant synergies and growth opportunities of the combined business.”