Adventi acquires Scotsys, while Sopra nets Newell & Budge |
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Published
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Sun, 19 Jun 2005 22:55
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Adventi, the Adventi specialist has brought out Scotsys in a deal worth £5 million. It is expected that this deal will provide the much-needed boost to the Scottish technology sector. This deal presents a somewhat new territory for Edinburgh-based Adventi, which has so far been dealing with Microsoft products.
Adventi's new Scottish acquisition has a reputation dealing with Apple products and provides almost 80 percent of all AppleMacs in Scottish schools. It has also trained over 14,000 teachers. Scotsys has outlets in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Adventi will now have an annual turnover of £16m.
Graham Bucknall, the founder of Adventi, said, “We have always said there would be consolidation in the Scottish IT sector and this deal is ideal for us both. It marries two distinct companies into one major independent.” He added that the group was considering a flotation on the AIM market and that this deal with Scotsys could be the first in a series of acquisitions.
| The enlarged group will have John McAleenan, of Scotsys as the managing director while Jim Spowart will be the non-executive director of the combined company. It is to be noted that Spowart who helped launch direct bank Intelligent Finance, played a key role in the merger. Graham Bucknall will be the strategy director of the combined group.
This deal completed a flurry of activity in the Scottish IT circles this week. Scottish consultancy Newell & Budge was sold to the UK arm of the French firm Sopra, in a deal worth £45m.
The firm will now trade as Sopra Newell & Budge in the UK. The deal is believed to have made Ann Budge richer by £30m. Analysts were a bit disappointed that foreign companies now owned another Scottish firm, but Ms Budge clarified by saying, “We have to compete in a bigger field. The UK HQ will remain in Scotland. It strengthens our position.” It is expected that she will remain at the helm of the merged company.
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