Australia | 11:00 AM
Codan’s communications subsidiary Zetron will acquire US-based Eventide in a deal brokers see as an excellent strategic fit, prompting ratings upgrades.
- Codan’s Zetron to acquire 100% of Eventide
- Expands Zetron’s capabilities and Eventide’s geographical reach
- Will enhance existing solutions and drive recurring revenue streams over time
- Acquisition cheered by analysts, upgrades follow
By Greg Peel
Codan ((CDA)) has long been on the radar of your typical small cap investor, and for good reasons too. Its share price has really sprung to life since mid-2025.
Over the past two years (and a bit) the price has gone up threefold, from $20 to $70 in late September when Codan entered the ASX100 and officially lost its status of MidCap.
October and November saw more sellers than buyers and the share price has since settled back above the 60-days moving average in the mid-$50-ish.
Listed in 2003, Codan first made a name for itself following the acquisition of Minelab Electronics in 2008, manufacturer of metal detectors.
Metal detectors was what the company was primarily known for until three further varied acquisitions were made up to 2021, including Zetron –- a US-based company specialising in integrated mission-critical communications systems for public safety, utilities, transportation, healthcare, and industrial operations.
For over a decade, Zetron has worked alongside another US-based company, Eventide Communications, re-selling Eventide’s products. This week, Codan announced that Zetron has entered a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Eventide.
Eventide is a provider of technology that records and stores calls, radio, video and screen activity for replay, compliance and investigations, particularly in emergency call centres and control rooms.
Eventide has more than 9,000 live recorders globally, including over 4,000 within US Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs – ie 911 emergency calls).
This business complements Zetron’s existing call-taking, dispatch and alerting products, potentially allowing Codan to provide a more complete solution and compete more effectively with its larger rivals.
The acquisition also offers meaningful cross-sell opportunities.
Strategic Fit
Eventide’s technology records and securely stores calls, video, radio and screen activity in emergency call centres and operational control rooms, capturing how calls and data are handled and responders are dispatched.
Bell Potter does a good job of outlining Codan’s rationale for acquisition:
Through Eventide, Zetron extends its product workflow to the evidentiary layer of a PSAP’s control room. Eventide’s Critical Insights AI feature, which provides automated quality assurance, operational intelligence and data analytics within a PSAP, will enhance Zetron’s existing solutions and drive recurring revenue streams over time.
Codan can leverage Zetron’s global distribution network to expedite Eventide’s geographic expansion outside of its core market presence within the US and further broaden its customer reach into defence-related verticals.
Zetron has offices in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, serving customers on all seven continents.
Codan, for the record, has employees located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Mexico, Singapore, the UAE, UK and US. Codan’s products and solutions are sold in more than 150 countries.
The acquisition increases the recurring nature of Codan’s earnings, Canaccord Genuity notes. Recording sits inside a mandated, long-lived installed base, and management expects Critical Insights AI and related value-added services to drive recurring revenue over time.
The revenue mix was not disclosed; however, Canaccord reports these businesses typically see around two-thirds of sales from hardware/appliance, and the remainder from software and maintenance.
Launched in 2025, the cloud extension of Eventide's recording delivers automated quality assurance, operational intelligence and analytics, which management sees as core to 911 call centre modernisation.
Zetron plans smart search and incident construction, live transcription and translation, and evaluation and coaching, sold via the company’s Salus platform or as a separate module through partners.
At a time when resourcing availability in US call centres is quite stretched, the product can free up that resource constraint, Canaccord notes.
In UBS’ view, Codan is well positioned to benefit from the “Next Generation 911” US law enforcement systems overhaul into 2030 which remains an attractive structural tailwind.
Eventide gives Zetron immediate control of the end-to-end customer solution and tendering process with scope to leverage Eventide's defence relationships and extend its products beyond North America through Codan's extensive distribution network.
Importantly for Moelis, the acquisition adds an adjacent workflow rather than an entirely new customer base.
Eventide’s Critical Insights AI offering provides a potential pathway to recurring revenue from transcription, automated quality assurance and operational analytics, either through Zetron’s Salus platform or as a standalone module.
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