Beam Acquires Europe’s Telcom – San Diego Business Journal

SAN DIEGO – EV charging solutions company Beam Global (Nasdaq: BEEM) has acquired Telcom, an electrical equipment manufacturer based in Serbia. The deal marks Beam’s third acquisition – its second one in Serbia – further expanding the sustainability leader’s global footprint.

“We’re thrilled,” Beam CEO Desmond Wheatley told the Business Journal. “It was a very good transaction for us and I think it will be very good for the seller, too.”

Launched in 1990, Telcom’s engineers and manufacturers specialize in power electronics, like inverters, charge controllers, power supplies and LED lighting. Upon joining Sorrento Valley-based Beam, Telcom will create bespoke solutions to replace third-party products.

“In the future, because we’ve acquired this company that has all the skillsets and manufacturing capabilities to manufacture these components, we’ll be able to make custom products that are designed specifically for our use cases and manufacture them ourselves,” Wheatley said. “That will reduce costs and make us more profitable and able to grow more.

It will also make our products more effective and efficient and powerful which is a great benefit to our customers. Frankly, it’ll also reduce warranty costs for us because the majority of our warranty costs come as a result of the failure of third-party components that we buy from other companies, but we still have to fix those components because they’re part of our product.”

Starting in January 2025, Telcom will be rolled entirely into Beam Global’s Beam Europe business, including all of its assets and employees. This means that Beam plans to eliminate duplicate positions, but Wheatley called it an overall “net positive” in that it will pave the wave for new positions.

Beam hasn’t shared a total number of consolidated positions but said it would be a low percentage of staff. “We can reduce administrative operating costs and redirect the skilled people we have away from mundane admininstrative things – which will be done by the coporate office – and have them doing more really skilled engineering, which is where the value-creation is,” Wheatley added.

Acquisition Deal Details

Beam purchased the company for EUR 815,298, of which EUR 385,298 was paid in unregistered shares of Beam’s common stock and EUR 430,000 was paid in cash, Wheatley shared. Beam says Telcom reported over EUR 600,000 in revenue in 2023 and expects the company’s significant positive growth to continue this year. Telcom can also earn up to EUR 250,000 more – paid entirely in stock – if it meets certain revenue milestones.

“For over 33 years, we have been perfecting the latest power electronics technologies and products for a diverse range of clients, including the region’s largest telecommunications provider. By becoming part of Beam Global, we are confident that, together, we can do more for our existing customers while improving Beam’s current and planned future products,” said Dušan Stanojevic, former CEO of Telcom and now head of power electronics engineering at Beam Europe. “Our team of skilled engineers is very enthusiastic about bringing innovation to Beam Global’s power electronics so as to improve the products, reduce costs and reduce reliance on third-party components and solutions.”

Beam’s acquisition of Telcom comes after the company acquired Serbia-based Amiga’s streetlights and other capabilities in 2023, and Chicago-based AllCell Technologies in 2022. “We continue to further enhance our global expansion efforts,” said Wheatley.

Curbside Charging Solution

Adding to the buzz over the latest deal is Beam’s newly unveiled patented BeamSpot sustainable curbside EV charging system. The company says it combines solar, wind and utility-generated electricity into its proprietary integrated batteries to charge EVs and light up the streets.

“We take out the existing streetlight and put this in its place. It’s a street light and much more. It has a small windmill – a light wind generator – so when the wind blows it makes electricity. It also has a tracking solar array following the sun as it moves across the sky – using our patented tracking solution – so it’s generating electricity even when it’s light out,” explained Wheatley. It will also have a couple of electrical outlets on it so first responders can connect to the stored electricity in the event that there’s a disaster, like a rolling power outage.

“We cannot continue to just charge cars in parking lots or at people’s homes because most people around the world can’t do that and that means that we’re going to have to be able to change them on the street because that’s where a lot of people park,” he added. The BeamSpot was just patented in Europe, following its initial patent in the U.S. in 2019.

The company had 300% year-over-year growth last year. Earlier this year, the company secured its first order from the UK Ministry of Defense for a $1 million purchase price.

Its current enterprise value sits at $60.45 million with a market cap of $70.08 million, as of Sept.11.

“I believe our products will become more powerful, more reliable and less expensive to make,” added Wheatley. “That’s great news for our customers and great news for improving profitability.”

Beam Global
FOUNDED: 2006
CEO: Desmond Wheatley
HEADQUARTERS: Sorrento Valley
BUSINESS: Clean technology innovator developing and manufacturing sustainable infrastructure products and tech.
STOCK: BEEM (NASDAQ)
ENTERPRISE VALUE: $60.45M
WEBSITE: beamforall.com/
NOTABLE: In January, Business Intelligence Group named Wheatley its 2023 Global Sustainability Hero Award winner.