Federal Signal continue on toll industry buy-up binge acquiring VESystems

Federal Signal corporation says it has acquired VESystems LLC, toll back-office and customer services specialists. They are paying $33 million for the company including approximately $8.4m stock.

VESystems was established in 2000. They are especially proud of the HOT Lane Congestion Pricing processing 'module' they developed for Minnesota DOT's I-394 toll lanes, and the video toll systems they operate for Texas DOT.

VESystems is led by founder and CEO, Manfred Rietsch who following a US Marine aviation career (see bottom) llists experience in electronic systems development and integration, database management, customer service, electronic toll accounts, violation processing and toll evasion collections.

The company is head-officed in Irvine California and has offices in Arizona, Florida and Texas.

Federal Signal is in the Chicago area.

Previous toll industry buys Sirit, Diamond, PIPS

Just recently Federal Signal nailed down the purchase of Sirit and its RFID transponder-reader business. Earlier they bought up Diamond Consulting the British based specialists in smart loops for vehicle and classification. Before that acquired PIPS the established camera and automated license plate reading specialists.

William Osborne, Federal Signal's president and chief executive is quoted today: "We are excited about the acquisition of VESystems, which expands our addressable market and advances our stated strategy of driving growth through our Public Safety Systems platform. VESystems' expertise and leadership in electronic toll collection software and complete system operations is highly respected in the industry and already works well alongside the PIPS, Diamond and Sirit technology and service offerings.  

"We are confident that with this portfolio of best-in-breed technologies and services, Federal Signal will be well-positioned to offer customers a comprehensive ITS solution, capitalize on the robust global market trends and deliver enhanced value to our stockholders."

"On behalf of our board of directors and management team, I am delighted to welcome VESystems and its experienced talented team, led by Manfred Rietsch, to Federal Signal. The strength and depth of VESystems' team will be a key asset for our company."

Osborne, 50 is quite new to Federal Signal. Until the fall of 2008 he was a senior manager at Ford, being in charge of their Pacific operations. He has been president of Ford in Australia and Canada.

Toll watchdog

Manfred Rietsch CEO of VESystems is quoted: "This is a proud day for VESystems. We are confident that Federal Signal is the right fit for VESystems and we look forward to rapidly integrating our operations and capitalizing on the power of this combination, while maintaining the high level of service our customers have come to expect from VESystems."

Rietsch is apparently a dog-lover, the one bit of animation in an IBTTA powerpoint he gave recently being a fine watchdog next to a number plate PAYTOLL (see nearby).

From sorties to billing, from FA-18s to ALP cameras

Back offices are very much a second career for Manfred Rietsch. He is a retired US Marine Corp pilot and commander. A refugee from East Germany in his teens he graduated from University of Minnesota and went into the Marine Corps officer school. There they nicknamed him 'Fokker' Rietsch for his German accent.

Between 1966 and 1992 Rietsch had a spectacular career as a marine fighter pilot flying around 700 combat missions in Vietnam and in Middle East wars including Desert Storm and Desert Shield. He got six Air Medals. 

He commanded Marine Aircraft Group 11 as a colonel. Out of the military he worked for Lockheed Martin IMS (now ACS, soon to be Xerox) his first toll roads work being at the Foothill Eastern and San Joaquin Hills tollroads in Orange County California May 1999 through 2000.

He then formed his own company VESystems December 2000.

see http://www.federalsignal.com

see: http://www.vesllc.com

VESystems project news is shown here:

http://www.vesllc.com/toll-project-news/vesystems-toll-industry.php

TOLLROADSnews 2010-03-03