The Kudelski Group (SIX.KUD.S), parent company of NAGRA, Conax and others, is acquiring 100% of NexGuard Labs BV (formerly Civolution BV), a provider of digital content watermarking solutions.
The move is intended to expand the Kudelski Group's portfolio of end-to-end content protection security solutions for content owners and pay TV operators. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
NexGuard Labs, based in the Netherlands and with offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Dubai and Rennes (France), provides forensic watermarking technology and solutions for protecting media content against illicit redistribution. The watermarking technology developed by NexGuard is designed not to impair the viewer experience and to protect against degradation of the content. Kudelski plans to use it to reinforce its existing watermarking technology, anyMARK.
André Kudelski, chairman and CEO of Kudelski Group, said, "The acquisition of NexGuard further strengthens our content protection offering and represents a key milestone in executing our growth strategy in security."