Netregistry owner buys MD Webhosting

Steps closer to toppling Melbourne IT in shared hosting.

Netregistry owners Online Growth Solutions have acquired MD Webhosting to overtake Melbourne IT as the number one player in the .au market.

Customers of the Melbourne-based web host and registrar were informed of the transaction over the weekend.

Financial details were not disclosed. But the acquisition has added some 20,000 customers to the Online Growth Solutions base.

Online Growth Solutions chief Larry Bloch told iTnews the acquisition was aimed at topping Melbourne IT's lead in domain name resale and shared hosting.

"We've been ahead of Melbourne IT in new .au registrations for a few months but now we've overtaken them in total number of registrations as well," Bloch said.

"MD's sizable customer base also cements us as number two in the shared web hosting market, and brings us closer to overtaking Melbourne IT as the number one."

Bloch said Online Growth Solutions would retain MD's Melbourne office and staff, describing it as a "tight operation".

But he said MD's call centre would be brought back to Australia from an offshore service provider, creating "a handful" of jobs.

Bloch said Online Growth Solutions would continue negotiations with several hosts to close the gap to Melbourne IT and achieve its goal as number one in the shared hosting space.

He called on other hosts with customers "in the thousands" that were "looking to exit for cash" to contact the firm.

Online Growth Solutions funded the MD Webhosting acquisition from the $18 million debt facility and convertible note combination it secured from NAB and its integrated capital solutions division respectively in December last year.