HID Global completes De La Rue’s Citizen Identity Business acquisition

HID Global has finalized the acquisition process of De La Rue, a commercial issuer of banknotes and passports, in a merger that will help further strengthen HID Global’s position in the market, the company announced. Acquisition discussions started in June.

“HID Global and the De La Rue international identity solutions business share the common goal of helping governments fulfill their e-government initiatives today and in the future by converging physical and digital identities to increase efficiency, security and flexibility,” said Stefan Widing, President and CEO, HID Global. “The acquisition sets the stage for HID to leverage the decades-long relationships De La Rue has had as a prime citizen ID supplier providing HID’s innovative solutions to governments seeking to modernize. From making it possible for citizens to use mobile IDs with their smartphones in everyday life to providing travelers with a more secure and convenient passport for border crossing, HID is transforming the citizen experience.”

According to HID Global, its end-to-end solutions have been integrated in some sixty percent of global government-issued electronic IDs such as national IDs, passports, foreign resident IDs, driver licenses, vehicle registration.

With De La Rue in the fold, HID Global will gain access to a number of government agencies and police departments, which, the company says, will help upgrade its product portfolio to mobile IDs, automated verification capabilities and e-passports with advanced physical and electronic security features. The De La Rue citizen ID business will give HID Global the chance to apply an enhanced number of systems including civil registry and vital statistics (CRVS)–to HID’s citizen ID portfolio.

In the past months, HID Global has also acquired Australian card manufacturer Placard and enterprise data and IoT management provider HydrantID. Last September, the company acquired biometrics firm Crossmatch.

Article Topics

acquisitions  |  biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  De La Rue  |  digital identity  |  HID  |  identity document  |  national ID