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Datatrack: first alternate
listing on the Malta
Stock Exchange
“It’s small, but it’s a whole country,”
he said. “We can do things here that it wouldn’t be
practical to pilot in other countries. Once these applications
are seen in operation
here, they can be sold on to much larger
territories.”
The public share issue is earmarked for financing the company’s
development drive in Malta, and its penetration of new markets
overseas. Siemens Datatrak, the international organisation and
a shareholder in the Malta company, have given the go-ahead
for Malta to develop markets in the Gulf States, the Middle
East and North Africa on an exclusive basis. “The potential
is huge,” says Mr Falzon. “We’re looking forward
to it. This is more or less virgin territory where these applications
are concerned, and we want to be the first in. Siemens did not
make their decision lightly. They saw what we could do here
in Malta, and they know that we can handle this business.”
A new subsidiary, Datatrak MENA Ltd, is being set up to focus
solely on overseas expansion. It will start with Tunisia, Libya,
Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. First to be tackled are Saudi
Arabia, and Libya, with whom the company has concluded a letter
of intent and the submission of a project proposal for the Libyan
networks.
Siemens bought Securicor Information Systems, the UK pioneer
in cash-in-transit tracking, earlier this year as part of its
globalisation drive. The company was then renamed Siemens Datatrak.
There are Datatrak networks in the UK, Argentina, South Africa,
the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria and Malta.
The Datatrak Holdings share issue will be the first on the alternate
listing at the Malta Stock Exchange. “We are selling the
future,” says Mr Falzon, “and not the past. This is
definitely the way ahead for Malta. We have the brains and the
skills, and we can do it.”
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