Acquisition strengthens Mana’s mass participation capabilities and establishes a platform for further growth across Asia
Mana Group has expanded its presence in Asia through the acquisition of Chip Timing Co, an established sports timing and event technology business servicing mass participation events across Thailand.
The acquisition represents an important step in Mana’s continued growth across the region. It brings established timing and event technology capabilities, an experienced local team and a network of more than forty events into the broader Mana Group.
Chip Timing Co will continue to operate with its existing team and established relationships, ensuring continuity for event organisers, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders.
Mana Group Executive Chairman Chris McCormack AM said the acquisition would deepen Mana’s involvement in the mass participation events ecosystem and create significant opportunities for growth across Asia.
“Asia is an incredibly important market for Mana and one where we see enormous potential across the mass participation and endurance sports sectors,” McCormack said.
“Chip Timing Co has built an established business with strong local relationships, expertise and an impressive network of events. We see a real opportunity to build on those foundations and bring additional capability and value to the events and organisers they already support.
“Timing sits at the heart of every mass participation event, but the opportunity for us extends well beyond timing. By combining Chip Timing Co’s expertise with Mana’s broader capabilities across events, commercial strategy, marketing, communications and content, we can create a much broader offering for event organisers and help them build stronger, more sustainable events.”
The acquisition marks an important expansion of Mana’s physical presence in Thailand, with Mana’s senior operations lead, Marcus Altmann, relocating to Bangkok to provide on-the-ground leadership to support Chip Timing Co’s existing operations while driving Mana’s broader growth and development across the region. Altmann brings more than 20 years of experience delivering major international sporting events and has held senior roles across some of the world’s leading mass participation sports organisations.
Altmann said maintaining Chip Timing Co’s existing relationships and local expertise would be central to the next phase of the business.
“The first priority is continuity. Chip Timing Co has built strong relationships with race directors, event organisers, partners and suppliers over many years and we want to protect and strengthen those relationships,” Altmann said.
“We have a great local team in place and being based here in Bangkok means I can work alongside them, stay close to our customers and better understand where we can add further value.
“For existing clients and partners, it is very much business as usual. What changes over time is the additional capability we can bring through Mana, whether that is supporting the growth of timing services, introducing new technology or providing broader event, commercial, marketing and communications expertise.
“Having a permanent presence here in Bangkok gives us an exciting platform from which to continue building relationships, developing our capabilities and growing across the region.”
The acquisition forms part of Mana Group’s broader strategy to invest in and develop businesses across the sports, events and mass participation sectors, with a focus on opportunities that combine operational capability, technology, audience growth and long-term commercial development.
