THE venture capital group ACT has invested £1.8 million for a 30 per cent stake in the Irish manufacturer of telephone switching systems, MDS. The company was set up in 1985 with Forbairt support by managing director Mr Decian Gibbons and, technical director Mr Stephen McMahon.

MDS has a turnover of £7 million, of which export sales account for 90 per cent. The group's customers included Telecom Eireann, TEIS and other European telecom companies including Teledanmark of Denmark, Telia of Sweden, Telenor of Norway and PTT Telecom of the Netherlands. MDS employs 130 people in Dublin and Clonmel.

Most of the money raised from ACT will be used for product development and the expansion of production capacity, although some of the funds will be used to buy out some of the shares held by BES investors who invested in the company in 1987 and 1989.