ACS makes biggest acquisition to date

Firm snaps up Computer Software Holdings as it guns for rapid growth

Ambitious Advanced Computer Software (ACS) has snapped up business software specialist Computer Software Holdings (CSH) for £110m.

According to reports, the Cheshire-based firm, which focuses on the not-for-profit, SMB and legal sectors, was sold to ACS by private equity firm HgCapital.

CSH boasts around 650 employees with offices in the UK, US and Ireland, and was acquired by HgCapital in 2011 when it bought the Iris Software Group. CSH was spun off and operated as a standalone business.

As a result of the acquisition the combined firm will boast 1,900 staff and 20,000 customers across the UK, US and Ireland.

According to its statement it will have net debt of £65m at date of acquisition, with ‘strong cash generation profile’.

Vin Murria, chief executive of ACS said in a statement: "This immediately earnings enhancing acquisition is a tremendous opportunity for both ACS and CSH which will also significantly enhance the scale of our business solutions and managed services divisions. The business and many of the management team are well known to us which will simplify the integration process.

"CSH has strong recurring revenues and cash generation and proprietary software IP. The addition of this business will enable us to widen our addressable markets and, in particular, to grow our back office solutions capabilities. The enlarged Group will be highly cash generative with over £160m recurring and repeating revenues and we expect our net debt to decrease swiftly.

"The acquisition also provides multiple opportunities for cross-selling our growing portfolio of products and services, as businesses and organisations increasingly seek technology solutions to improve business performance and deliver economies."