Calian Group is acquiring a Mississauga-based firm that provides satellite communications services to government, military and other customers in regions such as the Canadian North. Calian has agreed to purchase Galaxy Broadband Communications from investment firm Crown Capital Partners for $24 million in a deal that could also include earnout payments of up to $27.5 [\u2026]<\/p>\n
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Calian Group is acquiring a Mississauga-based firm that provides satellite communications services to government, military and other customers in regions such as the Canadian North.<\/p>\n
Calian has agreed to purchase Galaxy Broadband Communications from investment firm Crown Capital Partners for $24 million in a deal that could also include earnout payments of up to $27.5 million over the next three years if Galaxy hits certain revenue targets.<\/p>\n
The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 to 75 days pending regulatory approvals. <\/p>\n
Founded more than 30 years ago, Galaxy operates low-Earth-orbit satellite, microwave and fibre communications infrastructure. The company delivers internet and voice communications services as well as IT management, cybersecurity and other services to federal, provincial and municipal governments, the Canadian Armed Forces, Indigenous communities, mining companies and other customers.<\/p>\n
Calian CEO Patrick Houston told OBJ the firm has carved a lucrative niche for itself with customers in remote locations such as the Arctic that aren\u2019t covered by traditional high-speed networks.<\/p>\n
That makes Galaxy a valuable commodity for ensuring soldiers and their equipment can communicate with each other as Arctic sovereignty becomes a top priority for the Canadian military, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a big opportunity here,\u201d Houston said. \u201cAll of these (customers) are going to require some sort of communications up there, and satellite is usually your kind of default communications.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galaxy works with partners such as Eutelsat to provide high-speed internet and other communications services to clients in the North via low-Earth-orbit satellite networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New seaports, armed forces bases and other infrastructure are expected to be built to protect Canada\u2019s northern borders in the coming years, and LEO satellite services \u201cwill play a huge part in that,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n
Now at about 50 employees, Galaxy has annual revenues of more than $25 million and generates EBITDA in the $5-million range. Houston said he hopes to see those numbers double over the next few years as the rise in defence spending, especially in the Arctic, fuels more demand for the company\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good-sized business for us, but we feel there\u2019s a lot of upside here in working together,\u201d he told OBJ on Monday. \u201cThey\u2019re a Canadian company and so are we, so I think that really helps in terms of trying to put a foothold here in the Arctic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The acquisition is the latest in a series of moves from Calian aimed at bolstering its growing defence business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Houston recently told OBJ<\/a> the \u201copportunity set is significantly larger\u201d for Canada\u2019s defence industry than at any time in recent history thanks to the federal government\u2019s pledge to boost defence spending from two per cent of the country\u2019s GDP today to five per cent by 2035.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s Liberals also want to ensure a lot more of that spending stays within the country. The feds have introduced measures such as the $6.6-billion Defence Industrial Strategy, a multi-year plan to lessen Canada\u2019s dependence on foreign-made products, and established a new organization called the Defence Investment Agency aimed at streamlining procurement and speeding up major projects.<\/p>\n That could mean billions of dollars in new contracts for Canadian defence-tech enterprises of all sizes, and changes the competitive dynamics of the industry, Houston said in an interview last month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t necessarily have to be trying to kill each other for each one of these (contracts), but rather how do we work together to capture more of (the defence spending pie) and keep more of it in Canada, I think is the real challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cSo this is a new muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n Calian is going all-in on a push to strengthen its defence offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last fall, the firm launched a new initiative called Calian Ventures aimed at helping small and medium-sized defence-tech businesses scale. Earlier this year, Calian reorganized its corporate structure<\/a> to put more of a spotlight on defence and space.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first three months of 2026, Calian inked major partnerships with two other Canadian firms, Ottawa\u2019s ADGA Group<\/a> and Quebec-based Tessellate Robotics, to develop new products such as training simulations and autonomous navigation systems for the Canadian Armed Forces.<\/p>\n The acquisition of Galaxy now adds to the array of services it can provide to the CAF and other military clients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday, Houston noted the federal government \u201ccan only do so many\u201d major defence projects at once, and companies like Calian are waiting to find out what the government\u2019s priorities will be.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re certainly in conversations on all of these,\u201d he added. \u201cI think now it\u2019s what\u2019s the order (of priority) and when do these start.\u201d<\/p>\n Calian has never been shy about adding new product lines and services through acquisitions. Houston said he expects that pattern to continue.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a moment here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to focus on building more scale in Canada because I think that will be rewarded in time. I think the government will lean in on the larger (companies) who can really deliver the big programs. Being larger with more capability I think would help.\u201d<\/p>\n But Calian isn\u2019t just eyeing acquisition targets in Canada. Space and defence customers now account for about two-thirds of the company\u2019s revenues \u2014 and a growing portion of those sales are coming from Europe thanks to deals such as Calian\u2019s 2024 acquisition of U.K.-based military simulation company Mabway<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Houston said he\u2019s keen to pursue more M&A opportunities across the Atlantic. He hopes to get more deals finalized before the end of this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe acquisitions we\u2019ve made there have been really successful,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we need more footprint in more countries to go after more opportunities and deliver locally. Hopefully we can get a couple (more acquisitions) across the line.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calian Group is acquiring a Mississauga-based firm that provides satellite communications services to government, military and other customers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-769859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}