Maire Funds Fusion

11:27 PM Tue 4 Nov 2008 GMT

'Peter Maire founded Navman in 1986 and is now backing Fusion’s global expansion.' .

The economic crisis which has resulted in a lack of private equity funding has led tech industry entrepreneur and founder and former President of Navman, Peter Maire to sell up to a fifth of his stakeholding in quartz crystal component maker, Rakon.

New Zealand media has reported that Maire has sold between two and three million of the 14.9 million Rakon shares held by his investment vehicle, Tahia. The sale raised around $7 million, which Maire intends using to increase his stake in car and marine audio company Fusion Electronics, preparing for global expansion.
Maire now has a majority interest in Fusion.

'We really didn't have any option other than to sell something," said Maire, adding that it was "a very reluctant sale".

Maire said he views tough economic times as an opportunity. 'Recession was the best time of growth for us at Navman. Global retailers want new and innovative products on the shelves to keep drawing in consumers, but in recession the large, blue-chip brands tend to slow down.

"Fusion's in an incredible growth mode, and we just couldn't starve the company for capital any longer. The private equity market here has just completely shut its doors. That had happened in the past three months, and now no one in private equity in this country was interested in anything other than mature positive cashflow-type investments," he said.

According to Maire, Fusion will have a turnover of about $35 million this year, heading towards $50 million next year, and was a long way from considering an initial public offering.

by Jeni Bone

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