Bain Sells Off Uniview / UNV, Sold to China Trans Info

By: John Honovich, Published on Apr 30, 2017

Bain Capital has sold off Uniview to a Chinese company.

Uniview is the self-proclaimed "#3" in China video surveillance behind Hikvision and Dahua. In particular, Uniview has been known to many in the West for its uncommon ownership by American investment firm Bain.

Inside this note, we share Uniview's statement to IPVM on the deal, analyzing its potential impact for Uniview and the broader market.

**** ******* *** **** off********* * ******* *******.

******* ** *** ****-********** "#3" ** ***** ***** surveillance ****** ********* *** Dahua. ** **********, ******* has **** ***** ** many ** *** **** for *** ******** ********* by ******** ********** **** Bain.

****** **** ****, ** share *******'* ********* ** IPVM ** *** ****, analyzing *** ********* ****** for ******* *** *** broader ******.

[***************]

Deal ********

**** **** ******* ** ******** Jiaozhi ************ **., ***** by ***** ***** **** [link ** ****** *********], a ******** ***** ******* (******.**) **** * ~$*.* billion ****** **************. *** price **** *** ******* was $***.* ******* *** (*** ***** ***** ****** on *** ****).

** **********, ******* **** ******** **** ****** **** a ***** ******:

**** ******* ** * well ***** ** (******* Equity) ****, *** ** a ****** ***********, *** supported ******* ** **** rapidly ** *** **** five *****. ** ***** of *** ******** ******** in *********/********** ******, *** fund ******* *** ******** and ****** *** ****. This **** ** ***** transfer ******** **** ******* a ***** ****** ** investment

Acquirer ********

***** *********, ** ******* pointed *** ** ****, is mainly ******* ** “***** Transportation” / ******* ********. Their**** ********* *********** ******* ** ~$*** million, ** **% **** over ****. **** ******* excludes *******. ******* *** said ********** **** ***** revenue *** ** *** *** hundred ******* ***** ******.

Benefits ** *** ****

******* **** **** *** deal ****** **** **** inside *** ******* ** China, ******:

*** *******, *** **** facilitates ****** *********** *** more ******** ************* ** China ****** *** ******** collaboration **** ********* *****. Moreover, ** ******* ******* to ****** ******* ** global ****** ** ***** of ********* ******* **** Transinfo *****.

********, ******* **** **** will ******** ** *** as ** *********** *** separate *******.

Uniview ************* ********

** *** ******** ****, Uniview *** **** ******** expanding *************** *** ****** on ******* *** ******* ****. ******* *** ******* similar ******* *** ******* to ***** *** ********* but ********* ****** *****, ***** is ** ********* *** many ******* ******* *** a **** ********** / less ********* ********* ****.

** *** ******** ****, Uniview's ********** **** ************* sales *** ********* ** nowhere ***** ** ***** nor *********. ******* *** minimal ****** / ***** staff ***** ***** *** Hikvision **** ******* ************* operations **** ******* ** local ***** ****** *** extensive ***** ********* *********. Because ** ****, ******* is ******** *********** ** the ******* *** ***** it *** *****. ** the ***** ****, *** sustainability ** ***** *** Hikvision's ********** **** **** expensive ***** ********** ** questionable. ***********, ***** *** current ********* ********** ****, Uniview **** ** ********** to **** *************** ******* their ******.

Outlook ** ****

** *** ****** **** China ***** **** *** an ******** ******** ***** business ** '***** **************' / ******* *******, **** could ** ********** ** the ******* ***** ***** surveillance ******* **** ******* focuses ** ***** *** two ******* *** ***** / *************.

*** *** ************* ****, we ** *** *** as **** ******** ***** ***** Transinfo *** ******* ************* operations, ***** ** ***** surveillance ******** ** **** Uniview. **********, ** ***** Transinfo *** ******* ********* to **** ******* **** internationally, **** ***** **** a ********** *** *** much **** ******* ******* to ** ****, ********** compared ** *** ******** resources ** ***** ****** video ************ ******.

Comments (14)

Rich Moore

05/10/17 06:16pm

As a distributor of Uniview products, for right now this doesn't change anything for us. The irony is that we found out about the sale through one of our clients that read your article. Cudos to IPVM for being on top of this.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Rich Moore | 05/10/17 06:25pm

We've known about this for a month, because it was announced a month ago. I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse :)

We delayed on our end because there was a bunch of news items out of ISC West and then we waited a little bit to get a statement from Uniview to clarify details / their approach.

That noted, to your point, my gut feel is that things will remain mostly as before.

Sean Nelson

Nelly's Security | 05/10/17 06:29pm

This was a big selling point for Uniview. "Partly american owned". Nonetheless, still a good product.

Rich Moore

In reply to Sean Nelson | 05/10/17 06:35pm

Huge selling point. Still manufactured and assembled overseas but clients liked knowing that they were owned by an American company even if they were a venture capital company. They weren't always going to stay under their ownership but it was nice to say. I'm interested to see how a company that specializes in transportation handles Uniview. If they leave them as their own entity? Incorporates what Uniview does with what they do? Or if they try to change Uniview? Either way, it will be interesting. Still not Chinese Government owned. lol

Jon Dillabaugh

Pro Focus LLC | In reply to Rich Moore | 05/11/17 01:38am

Rich, you know for a fact that China Trans Info doesn't have any SOE ties? I don't have a clue, but I wouldn't be so naive to brush it off so quickly. It would be more rare if there wasn't some public money in that company.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Jon Dillabaugh | 05/11/17 01:46am

The top shareholders are listed in the 2016 financials I linked to in the post, excerpted below:

Net/net, the largest, by far, shareholder is the CEO / founder of the company at 28.94%.

Of the top 10 shareholders, the only one that is state owned is Beijing Telecom, which has 2.32% of China Trans Info shares.

JD, please spare us the trouble and yourself the embarrassment of arguing that 2% shares is 'ownership' or control as you have done in the past about Dahua.

More importantly, the bigger issue is that not having a Bain as an owner is a much bigger loss from an international marketing standpoint.

Undisclosed #1

In reply to Sean Nelson | 05/11/17 01:00am

This was a big selling point for Uniview. "Partly american owned".

Mum's the word.

John Honovich

IPVM | 05/11/17 01:49am

One other interesting point is the effective valuation of this deal - assume Uniview was in the ~$300 million range, as they historically have said, a $535 million purchase price is fairly, certainly for Chinese standard, where 5x revenue valuations is ordinary and China TransInfo has a ~7x sales multiple.

Anyone with any theories on why the purchase price was relatively low, please share.

That noted, probably still a prudent move by Bain to cash out.

Undisclosed #2

In reply to John Honovich | 05/11/17 08:31am

Personally i think it had connection with the Failing of go public(IPO in HongKong) at the end of 2015.After that,there are some employee left the company,so something is not recovered so fast.Then it may influence the purchase price.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed #2 | 05/11/17 11:06am

#2, could be, I don't know enough. It would be interesting to understand why they didn't go public. Lots of companies, even smaller than Uniview, like video surveillance manufacturer Kedacom, have gone public in China with rocketing stock prices after the launch.

Undisclosed #2

In reply to John Honovich | 05/11/17 11:22am

yes.Usually go to public success or not have connection with company size or sales turnover.but not always like this.In China,there are other CCTV companies succeed in IPO.but sales turnover is smaller.sometimes it is important for the guys tell a good idea or story during the road to IPO.Maybe UNV failed on that parts.Just kidding.i do not know details why they fail.

Undisclosed Distributor #3

In reply to John Honovich | 05/18/17 10:34pm

Maybe because they are an honest company that doesn't feel going public is the right financial decision for the company or potential investors. An over-hyped IPO followed by a big drop would be an ugly setback.

Or maybe they are about to make a big push for the US market, and then go public after they emerge from the shadows and dominate Dahik with ease.

Corbin Hambrick

05/19/17 09:55pm

We chose Uniview (over HIK) for our budget cameras when the customer doesn't care about quality but wants a cheap camera.

I chose them over Dahua and HIK only because at that time the latter two seemed to not care that they were going willy nilly all over the Internet with pricing etc, and Univew at least tried to protect it some and of course had US ownership.

The US part made me feel better about my purchases and I was unaware of the Chinese Govt. ownership of HIK at the time.

...may prompt me to look into other cheapo camera options..may not.

Undisclosed Integrator #4

In reply to Corbin Hambrick | 05/20/17 12:23am

There are other budget options like Messoa and ACTi. Don't know how they compare to the Chinese options.

Login to read this IPVM report.

Why do I need to log in?

IPVM conducts unique testing and research funded by member's payments enabling us to offer the most independent, accurate and in-depth information.

Related Reports

Avigilon Hires Hikvision NA Head of Marketing As VP of Global Marketing on Jan 25, 2019

Avigilon has hired Alex Asnovich [link no longer available], who left Hikvision as Head of Marketing North America, to becomes Avigilon's Vice...

Dahua China Significant Job Cuts on Jan 28, 2019

Dahua China has cut a significant number of jobs in the past few months, according to numerous sources. This is a significant shift from Dahua's...

Goldman and Fidelity Funds Sell Off Hikvision, Dahua Stock Over Xinjiang on Mar 29, 2019

Major US funds run by financial giants such as Fidelity and Goldman Sachs have sold their equity stakes in Hikvision and Dahua "as scrutiny...

Hikvision Admits USA Sales Falling on Apr 22, 2019

Hikvision, in a new Chinese financial filing, has admitted that its USA sales are now falling. Less than a year after the US government passed a...

Hanwha Techwin Dropping Huawei on Jun 06, 2019

Hanwha Techwin is dropping Huawei Hisilicon from all of their products, the company has confirmed to IPVM. Inside this note, we examine Hanwha's...

RaySharp Revealed - Major China OEM For Western Consumer Video Surveillance on Jul 02, 2019

RaySharp is mostly unknown, even among people in the video surveillance industry, though it is a major supplier of OEM surveillance equipment such...

Stanley Makes "Multi-Million Dollar Investment" Into Banned Hikvision Products on Aug 09, 2019

Just days from the US government ban going into effect, US mega-corporation Stanley has dramatically increased its imports of banned Hikvision...

Megvii Financials and Growth Examined on Aug 30, 2019

Megvii has already received more than a billion dollars in investment. Now, the company, a top China facial recognition provider, has filed for an...

In China, Foreign AI Companies Banned or Disadvantaged, Says Top China AI Company on Aug 28, 2019

Non-China (PRC) companies are prejudiced and unfairly targeted inside of the PRC's booming AI market, which not only denies them revenue inside of...

PRC Government Entity Now Controlling Shareholder of Infinova / March Networks on Jan 16, 2020

A PRC government entity is now the controlling shareholder of US security manufacturer Infinova as well as its wholly-owned subsidiary March...

Most Recent Industry Reports

Axis and Genetec Drop IFSEC 2020 on Jan 23, 2020

Two of the best-known video surveillance manufacturers are dropping IFSEC International 2020, joining Milestone who dropped IFSEC in 2019. The...

Multipoint Door Lock Tutorial on Jan 23, 2020

Despite widespread use, locked doors are notoriously weak at stopping entry, and thousands can be misspent on locks that leave doors quite...

Avigilon Shifts Cloud Strategy - Merges Blue and ACC on Jan 23, 2020

Avigilon is shifting its cloud strategy, phasing out its Blue web-managed surveillance platform as a stand-alone brand and merging it with its ACC...

Verkada Paying $100 For Referrals Just To Demo on Jan 22, 2020

Some companies pay for referrals when the referral becomes a customer. Verkada is taking it to the next level - paying $100 referrals fees simply...

Camera Analytics Shootout 2020 - Avigilon, Axis, Bosch, Dahua, Hanwha, Hikvision, Uniview, Vivotek on Jan 22, 2020

Analytics are hot again, thanks to a slew of AI-powered cameras, but whose analytics really work? And how do these new smart cameras compare to top...