SKIDATA AG Expands Asia-Pacific Presence with Majority Stake in Cytel (Shanghai) Ltd.

SKIDATA AG, with its headquarters in Grödig (Salzburg), Austria, became the majority stakeholder of Cytel Ltd., the leading provider of access systems in China. The founder of the Shanghai-based company, Richard Zhou, remains a minority shareholder and Managing Director.

SKIDATA AG, the world market leader in access and visitor management, is expanding its presence in the Asia-Pacific region through its acquisition of a controlling interest in Cytel Ltd. With strong operational and financial commitments to its own subsidiaries in Australia, Japan and Malaysia, as well as partnerships in India, Hong Kong and New Zealand, SKIDATA has already established a solid foundation in the region over the past few years.

"In light of the dynamic development in the rapidly growing Chinese market, this acquisition marks an important milestone. With this investment, SKIDATA continues to develop in a highly interesting economic region," says Hugo Rohner, CEO of SKIDATA AG. With its excellent reputation in the premium market segment and an extensive network in China, the latest SKIDATA subsidiary will play an important strategic role in the sales structure of the internationally successful digital solution provider from Salzburg.

Richard Zhou, formerly the sole owner and Managing Director of Cytel (Shanghai) Ltd., believes that the combination of SKIDATA AG's expertise in development together with the affinity that Chinese parking facility operators have to new technology creates the ideal environment to advance and sell new innovative products and services for the highly competitive market. Richard Zhou will remain a minority shareholder and Managing Director of the company. "We look forward to working with the existing management, which we greatly value and with whom we share a common vision of corporate values and philosophy," concludes Hugo Rohner.

About SKIDATA 

SKIDATA is an international leader in the field of access solutions and their management. In 2017 the Salzburg company generated a record turnover of €320 million. More than 10,000 SKIDATA installations worldwide in ski areas, stadiums, airports, shopping centers, cities, spa and wellness facilities, trade shows, and amusement parks provide secure and reliable access and entry control for people and vehicles. SKIDATA places great value in providing solutions that are intuitive, easy to use, and secure. The integrated concepts of SKIDATA solutions help clients optimize performance and maximize profits. SKIDATA Group (www.skidata.com) belongs to the publicly traded Swiss Kudelski Group (www.nagra.com), a leading provider of digital security solutions.

About Cytel

Cytel (Shanghai) Ltd. is a pioneer and the market leader in the sales, installation and maintenance of high-quality access systems in China. In addition, with its team of qualified software engineers Cytel (Shanghai) Ltd. develops complementary solutions to meet the specific requirements of the Chinese market. The Cytel network includes 18 sales and service locations in China's urban centers as well as a development center in Chengdu.