A Swiss company has signed a deal to buy a controlling share in Bermuda-based hi-tech firm QuoVadis.

And WISeKey, a leading cybersecurity and internet of things company, said it expects the acquisition to add more than $20 million in revenues to its top line next year.

Carlos Moreira, chairman and CEO of WISeKey, said: “This transaction will bring strong synergies to WISeKey with a large recurring customer base of QuoVadis’ proven trust/link and sealsign technologies, in-depth operations experience running multiple secure and high-availability trustcentre environments under strict accreditation regimes and adept sales and support teams based in important customer markets, including Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

The deal means WISeKey will take an 85 per cent share of the equity in QuoVadis, with the transaction expected to close this quarter.

Existing QuoVadis shareholders will get a cash payment plus equity in WISeKey International Holding and current QuoVadis debt will be extinguished.

QuoVadis management shareholders will retain a 15 per cent minority stake, which WISeKey has the option to later acquire.

QuoVadis will continue to operate as a stand-alone company, expanding its business from centres in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, as well as in Bermuda.

Roman Brunner, CEO of QuoVadis, said: “QuoVadis is enjoying rapid growth providing electronic trust services across the European markets based on our proven track record for local support, practical advice and implementation success.

“The transaction with WISeKey will enable QuoVadis to extend our growth serving our multinational corporate markets, as well as the fast-evolving demands for services in the internet of things and eIDAS EID and electronic trust sectors.”

QuoVadis provides colocation, managed data centre, infrastructure as a service and cloud hosting, as well as disaster recovery services.

Its services also include acting as an international certificate authority and digital signature solutions.

QuoVadis was founded in 2000 by Anthony Nagel and Stephen Davidson.

It now works with 3,000 customers worldwide, including more than 300 large capitalisation companies, with around $17 million in revenue predicted for this year alone and $20 million for 2017.

Mr Davidson is a director of Quo Vadis and vice-president of product development and also deputy chairman of Bermuda Press (Holdings), the parent company of The Royal Gazette,