Bayard Group (Sydney, Australia), an investor in energy measurement and efficiency technologies, has taken a minority stake in WACS (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., a provider of meter data-management software solutions and decision-management technologies for electric, natural gas and water utilities. Bayard Group's portfolio also includes such companies as Landis+Gyr and Cellnet+Hunt.

Kristine Beck and Dave Hubbard, cofounders of WACS, will continue to lead the company. They expect to use a portion of the funds for working capital to enable the company to increase sales and marketing activity, deepen research and development capacity, and hire key executive and operational personnel. The investment accelerates WACS' growth prospects among organizations around the world implementing advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).