CentralNic gobbles of up large domain name registrar in $7.5 million deal.

Publicly traded CentralNic (LSE: CNIC) has purchased Bahamian domain name registrar Internet.bs (IBS).

The move gives CentralNic, currently positioned as a registry, a strong entry in the retail registrar market.

CentralNic is traditionally known for offering third level domain names, but it is the technical registry services provider powering dozens of new top level domain name applicants. Owning a large registrar gives its registry customers guaranteed market distribution.

IBS was founded by Marco Rinaudo in 2003 after he sold his hosting business. Gregg McNair later came on board as Chairman and helped position the company for the acquisition.

All IBS staff will continue with the company post-acquisition, Rinaudo said.

“I am very excited to see the Company that I founded and nurtured for more than 10 years enter this new phase of development,” said Rinaudo. “The great working relationship that I have forged with [CentralNic CEO] Ben Crawford and the CentralNic team provides me with the assurance that my IBS customers will be well supported in the future and will appreciate the proposed broadening of services to be introduced by the combined team. I will be working alongside Ben to make sure that happens in the best interest of our established and new customers.”

IBS is probably in the top 20 registrars in terms of domains under management. It is in the top 50 for .com domain registrations and has customers in 199 countries.

CentralNic will pay up to $7.5 million for the registrar, which had profits after tax of $0.73 million last year. The company will pay $5.2M up front, $2.7M in cash and $2.5M in equity that will be locked up for 12 months. The equity represents 3.42% of the company. CentralNic will pay up to $2.3M cash in the future depending on performance.

Pictured (left to right): IBS founder Marco Rinuado, IBS Chairman Gregg McNair, CentralNic CEO Ben Crawford.

[This story was updated to included the deal terms, which were made public in a regulatory filing.]