Gantner Ticketing, provider of software for museums, zoos, cultural heritage and visitor attractions, has been acquired by SALTO Systems.
Gantner has doubled in size during the investment period of Ardian, a world-leading private investment house which acquired a majority stake in the company in 2016. Now, Gantner is looking forward to continuing this growth with SALTO Systems, a leading manufacturer of access control and electronic locking solutions.
The company was founded in 1982 and is a leading European manufacturer of RFID and NFC solutions, providing integrated systems for membership and visitor management, cashless payments, time recording and security. As well as clients in the attractions industry, it also has customers in the fitness, corporate and education sectors.
In June 2017, its product portfolio was expanded to include ticketing and management software for leisure facilities with the acquisition of Syx Automations. Gantner also acquired Contidata in June 2020.
International expansion
This international expansion led to an increased market share, particularly in the USA, the UK and the Benelux countries. Gantner has doubled in size since 2015 and now has 450 employees.
SALTO has its headquarters in Spain and employees over 750 staff over 32 countries. The company introduced the first stand-alone, battery-powered electronic lock; the SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) data on-card technology; and the first wireless access control system that combined a stand-alone locking device with online, real-time capabilities.
Following this acquisition, SALTO will now have the combined strength and joint capacity of one million access points each year.
Elmar Hartmann, CEO of GANTNER, said: “The collaboration with Ardian as an entrepreneurial partner was a true success story. During the last four years, we have been able to stay on our steep growth curve and double our size.
“With innovative products and integrated solutions for contactless access, ticketing and billing systems as well as flexible workspaces, we are a global player that significantly shapes the market in our segments.
“Thanks to the new partnership with Salto, we can expand our product portfolio, take advantage of important synergies, better target our markets and address customer segments with precision. This puts us in an optimal position to continue our dynamic growth. I would like to thank Ardian for their excellent cooperation, which was both inspiring and respectful, and look forward to continuing the successful development of our company together with SALTO.”
A bright future
Javier Roquero, SALTO Co-founder and CEO, said adding Gantner to the SALTO portfolio offers a “very bright future.”
“We are very excited to welcome Gantner to the SALTO family,” he said. “The Gantner product suite enriches and diversifies the SALTO product offering, will enhance our end-user experience and will improve our ability to continue to deliver the absolute best in electronic access control.”
Dirk Wittneben, Managing Director at Ardian and responsible for the investments of the expansion team in the DACH region, added:
“We are proud to support Gantner in its internationalization, important strategic acquisitions and the development of new industries and customers. As a result, the company was able to expand its product range to similar application areas and significantly expand its geographic coverage. We thank the management and the employees for their trust and cooperation and are convinced that SALTO is the perfect fit for the future development of the group.”
Earlier this year, Gantner announced that it had entered the French attractions market with a new project at Cap Sciences in Bordeaux.
