Back to the future: new owners, new drive, new vision

August 2012 News & Events

Norbain South Africa has announced it is under new management, well, new ownership. Scarcely two weeks have passed since Norbain UK announced it had been acquired by Newbury Investments UK and was looking to sell the company’s branches in South Africa, Portugal and Netherlands, and the local concern has been bought by its current management.

The management buyout (MBO) was confirmed last week. Unlike the usual corporate manoeuvring that take weeks or months, effective immediately, Norbain SA is now owned by Jan De Lange, the MD, Lukas Rautenbach, the FD and Les Oates, a director.

Jan de Lange
Jan de Lange

The company has just confirmed that it will ditch the Norbain brand and revert to the Reditron brand. Reditron was the name of the original South African security distributor bought by Norbain back in 1996.

De Lange told Hi-Tech Security Solutions that the transition has been seamless and that no staff left, despite a high demand for Norbain’s technical employees. Moreover, none of the staff have been retrenched. On a positive note for Norbain customers, it will continue to supply all the products it currently does. Since Norbain SA has always signed direct contracts with its suppliers, all distribution agreements are still in force, with Oates noting that not one vendor has withdrawn their products from the Reditron catalogue.

“It is business as usual, but now we are able to forge our own path,” notes De Lange. “Whereas we had to operate within the rules of our parent company in the past, we now have the flexibility to run the company focused on meeting the needs of the South African market.”

This will include local manufacturing opportunities for in-house brands in the future, as well as the opportunity to improve the company’s BEE status as a result of the company’s freedom to bring on empowered partners. “We have a host of ideas we will be implementing in due course,” says De Lange. “Watch this space. We have some exciting plans and the market can take note that we are here to stay.”

General consensus in the market is positive, supporting the change. Michael Gwozdek, MD of Heitel, says, “HeiTel has several great memories of the longstanding and continuing relationship with Norbain South Africa. Our partnership is based on many years of collaboration, full confidence in each other and our joint focus of activities to develop and marketing tailor-made solutions to meet the expectations and the needs of our mutual customers in South Africa.

“We highly believe in the strength and enthusiasm of the newly formed management team of Norbain South Africa, their independence from global management and the team spirit of Norbain’s employees. The changes are optimal conditions for a reciprocal growth of our business in South Africa.”

Sony’s Will Klopper supports this view, noting “We are extremely excited about the successful management buyout by the Norbain SA management team. We could not have hoped for a better outcome and we know that with the skills and talents of the existing staff, combined with the solid experience in the South African market, Norbain SA will go from strength to strength.

“Norbain SA proved themselves over the past few years as being able to take a high end premium product like Sony to a market which is flooded with cheap inferior products through good service, technical backup as well as a solid sales team. We are proud to associated with Norbain and look forward to join you on this new and exciting path.”

Marius Coetzee, MD of Ideco Biometric Security Solutions is delighted for the MBO team at Norbain. Coetzee says, “We have worked closely with Norbain since 2006. Our partnership has made a major contribution to the widespread use of biometric technology in South Africa’s access control and time management market. The exceptional growth in local biometric market would not have happened without Norbain’s commitment to provide practical advice and technical assistance to their network of customers.

“In many ways, Norbain’s success is founded on their outstanding levels of customer support. They understand the importance of actively helping their customers to build their own businesses. I am sure that this commitment to customer service will be a cornerstone of their continued growth and I wish them every success for the future.”

The MBO has left the local company with a very healthy balance sheet, says Rautenbach, putting it in a strong position to not only deliver the service and products the security market requires, but to embark on a number of improvements to its local operations.

Starting out, De Lange is focused on improving the company’s service levels to heights unseen in the local market. Some of the improvements will be a revamped repair centre in the Johannesburg office as well as a central contact centre. In future, customers will have a single number to call for whatever they require, no matter where in the country they are located.

The company’s branch offices will continue their operations as they are, except with a renewed focus on customer service. And while the short-term focus on the company will be on South Africa, the future will see Reditron spreading its wings into Africa. The first forays will be into the neighbouring countries in the medium term, and then further north in the long term.

“Our greatest strength going forward is our people,” adds Oates. “You can have the best products in the market, but if you do not have great people on board you are in trouble. The fact that not one member of staff has left says a lot about their commitment to the company and our customers.”

“We have moved the bureaucracy out of the way, we are motivated and we are piloting our own ship now. The market can expect great things from this company going forward,” concludes De Lange.

For more information contact Norbain SA t/a Reditron, +27 (0)87 802 CCTV (2288), [email protected], www.reditron.co.za



Credit(s)




Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

Highest increase in global cyberattacks in two years
Information Security News & Events
Check Point Global Research released new data on Q2 2024 cyber-attack trends, noting a 30% global increase in Q2 2024, with Africa experiencing the highest average weekly per organisation.

Read more...
The power of PKI and private sector innovation
Access Control & Identity Management News & Events Government and Parastatal (Industry)
At the recent ID4Africa 2025 Summit in Addis Ababa, the spotlight was firmly on building secure, inclusive, and scalable digital identity ecosystems for the African continent.

Read more...
Bosch Security renamed Keenfinity
News & Events
Globally renowned brands for video systems, access control and intrusion alarm systems, as well as communication systems, unite under the roof of the new company Keenfinity Group.

Read more...
2025 video surveillance market set for improved fortunes
News & Events Surveillance
Novaira Insights has unveiled its latest report, World Market for Video Surveillance Hardware and Software – 2025 Edition, forecasting a healthy growth rate of 8,1% until 2029, excluding China.

Read more...
Wialon announces integration with fleet maintenance and optimisation platform
News & Events Transport (Industry) Logistics (Industry)
Fleet management software platform integrates with a fleet maintenance and optimisation platform to support mutual customers for better workflows and deeper insights into fleet operations.

Read more...
DeepSneak deception
Information Security News & Events
Kaspersky Global Research & Analysis researchers have discovered a new malicious campaign which is distributing a Trojan through a fake DeepSeek-R1 Large Language Model (LLM) app for PCs.

Read more...
Almost 50% of companies choose to pay the ransom
News & Events Information Security
This year’s Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 report found that nearly 50% of companies paid the ransom to get their data back, the second-highest rate of ransom payment for ransom demands in six years.

Read more...
Value and industry insight
Securex South Africa Training & Education News & Events
Securex South Africa 2025, co-located with A-OSH EXPO, Facilities Management Expo, and Firexpo, drew thousands of security professionals from across the continent and beyond, offering a platform for networking, product discovery, and knowledge sharing.

Read more...
Gallagher Security achieves ISO 27001 recertification
News & Events Training & Education
Gallagher Security has successfully achieved certification to the updated ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). This accomplishment builds on previous certifications and reflects a continued commitment to the highest standards of information security.

Read more...
Survey highlights cost of cyberdamage to industrial companies
Kaspersky Information Security News & Events
The majority of industrial organisations estimate their financial losses caused by cyberattacks to be over $1 million, while almost one in four report losses exceeding $5 million, and for some, it surpasses $10 million.

Read more...










While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.