Direct Line sells telematics business to Lysanda

Direct Line Group (DLG) has completed the sale of its Tracker Network business to telematics software company Lysanda.

The acquisition will see Lysanda establish a new company – Tantalum Corporation – that incorporates telematics, informatics and vehicle recovery, and provide Tracker with a platform to expand its services in Europe.

Confirmation of the sale comes after reports in November that DLG was in advanced talks with private equity house Disruptive, whose chairman is financier Edmund Truell.

The combined technology group will reportedly cover about 400,000 vehicles and be one of the UK’s biggest corporate vehicle tracking networks.

Tracker managing director Stephen Doran said the acquisition would allow the company to become an independent service to the insurance market.

“It also provides the investment capital we need to take our business forward and achieve new levels of success, bringing our customers a growing range of services to meet their ever changing needs,” he said.

Lysanda chief executive Cédriane de Boucaud said: “Tracker has tremendous depth and experience in managing a very large, real-time customer base and has a highly complementary product range that Lysanda can leverage, combining VHF and GPS-based technologies.”

Direct Line said that the sale would have no impact on the telematics propositions that the group currently offers and is not expected to have a material financial impact.

In November, Insurance Times reported that Direct Line Group expected to make about £8m from the sale of the business.