Nautel Expands Maritime Offering with Kenta Acquisition

Canada-headquartered Nautel announced Wednesday that it has acquired France-based technology company Kenta, expanding Nautel’s offerings to customers in the maritime sector.

Kenta was established in 1990 and has gained extensive experience in the development of Radio Frequency Communication Systems, mainly in the area of Global Maritime Distress and Safety Systems (GMDSS) for telephony or voice transmission. The company offers complete turnkey transmitter and receiver solutions for MF, HF and VHF systems and can provide both coastal stations and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) software. Kenta is a key provider of Software Defined Radio (SDR) technologies and maintains its own test laboratories for radio, EMC and environmental vibration and temperature testing; it operates out of its fully integrated design and manufacturing facility in Quimper, France.

“We are excited to welcome the Kenta team to the Nautel family,” said Kevin Rodgers, Nautel President and CEO. “Kenta’s products perfectly complement our existing navigation offerings, and their talented staff will help to expand our technology offerings.”

Former shareholders Hermann Zensen, Manuel Billot and Damien Bernard will remain as executives for Kenta.

“Nautel has achieved exceptional customer acceptance for its line of beacon transmitters and more recent success for its sonar and navigational products,” said Hermann Zensen, Kenta's head of sales and marketing. “We believe this is a perfect partnership that makes more resources and opportunities available for our teams and allows Kenta to better serve our customers and continue our growth.”