K3 gobbles up Sage VAR FD Systems

ERP software provider follows up buyouts of reseller's business units by agreeing to acquire the remainder of its assets

ERP software provider K3 Business Technology has followed up its buyout of FD Systems' Sage 200 business unit by agreeing to a £2.23m deal that will see it acquire the rest of the firm.

K3 has also agreed to cover the repayment of loans worth just under £500,000, and will pay a further £400,000 once the deal is completed.

If certain performance criteria are met, K3 will fork out an additional £1m in cash.

The buyout is the third to involve K3 and Cardiff-based FD Systems, after the former acquired FD's Sage 200-focused business unit in December. Several months later, the firm announced plans to buy FD's NAV arm, which traded under the name Clarita Solutions.

FD will be merged with K3's existing Sage division through today's deal. K3 claims this move will make it one of the accountancy software vendor's largest UK partners.

Andy Makeham, chief executive of K3, said: "The combination of [FD's] Sage expertise and e-commerce solutions offers an attractive extension to our current Sage product range.

"The deal also represents further progress in our strategy to acquire customer bases with strong recurring revenues, bringing more than 300 customers where we see excellent opportunities to sell additional software services."