U.K.-based Dytecna Ltd has made the decision to divest its interest in Dytecna Asia Pacific Pty Ltd in Melbourne, Australia, effective immediately.
Systems engineering firm Dytecna said it invested more than $5.5 million in its Asia Pacific venture and believes that any further investment could no longer be justified, the company said in a statement. The company opened the Asia Pacific office in early March 2010. Dytecna success in the region had been driven in part by the acquisition of a Melbourne engineering company that designed and manufactured Ground Power Units (GPU’s) in late 2009, the company said in a release on its Web site.
The divestment move comes as a result of a strategic review of all the company business areas.
The reasons behind the divestiture include the necessity to realign current business activities to concentrate on core business and the “substantial” decrease in military spending across the world that has made a larger than predicted impact on the defense sector, the company said in the statement released by Battlespace Publications.
Additionally, the change in the value of the Australian dollar has made it impossible to manufacture and export product from Australia, and a number of key Australian programs continue to be put on hold, the company said.
Dytecna Ltd will continue to support Australian programs through its U.K. business. Strategically, the company said it would focus its efforts in the United Kingdom and developing its U.S. and Middle East opportunities. Also, the company aims to move into new areas as an engineering business.
Dytecna said it is confident the affected employees will be successful in finding alternative employment and will work to minimize the disruption to existing customers.
There will be no further impact on any of the U.K. business organization.