Singtel divests payment card compliance business

Singtel yesterday announced that its cyber-security arm Trustwave has divested SecureTrust, its payment card industry compliance business, to Sysnet Global Solutions, for a cash consideration of US$80 million (S$107.8 million).

In a bourse filing on the same day, the telco highlighted that the sale comes as part of Singtel's strategic review of its digital businesses announced in May to optimise the group's resource allocation and reposition these assets for growth.

Singtel added that certain Trustwave assets that are complementary to the group's core telecommunications and system integration business in the Asia-Pacific will move into Singtel and its subsidiaries NCS and Optus.

With this realignment, Singtel's cyber-security business will be "one of the largest" in the Asia-Pacific, with revenue of more than $350 million, the filing noted.

Singtel group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon pointed out that the divestment is the first step in an extensive review of the Trustwave business and aims to "reposition it for growth".

"With enterprises pivoting fast to hybrid, multi-cloud environments, the cyber threat landscape has changed considerably and the need for a focused set of services centred on managed threat detection and response has grown," he said.

"Trustwave can now better meet those needs by concentrating on its core offerings of managed detection and response, managed security services and consulting services to help businesses reduce complexity and cyber risk in their environments."

Trustwave chief executive Eric Harmon said the firm is rapidly evolving to effectively combat new and complex threat actors around the world.

"These business shifts allow us to focus on and accelerate our momentum as an industry leader in managed detection and response, world-class professional services and data protection," he said.

THE BUSINESS TIMES