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LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Vodafone said on Mondayit had agreed to buy an Italian provider of electronics servicesto the car industry for 145 million euros ($197 million) as partof its strategy to connect millions of devices such as cars andother machines.
The British telecoms company said it had agreed to buy CobraAutomotive Technologies, a provider of security,telecommunications and vehicle tracking for the automotive andinsurance industries.
Vodafone, like other mobile operators, is looking to expandinto the so-called machine-to-machine (M2M) industry to connectdevices within sectors including healthcare, automotive,transportation and energy.
Mobile carriers around the world reckon that M2M will be asignificant source of growth. Examples already in use includesmart meters which monitor energy usage at homes, or devices inoffices which tell an owner when their coffee machine needsre-stocking.
Vodafone said it would offer 1.49 euros a share to buy outthe shareholders in the Italian group. Cobra's majorityshareholder Intek Group said in a statement it hadagreed to tender its 51.4 percent stake in Cobra for 74.3million euros.
"The combination of Vodafone and Cobra will create a newglobal provider of connected car services," Erik Brenneis,Director of M2M at Vodafone said. "We plan to invest in thebusiness to offer our automotive and insurance customers a fullrange of telematics services."
($1 = 0.7345 Euros) (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Sarah Young and LouiseHeavens)