Buyout makes millionaires of Aldiscon shareholders

The biggest single beneficiary of Logica's buyout of Aldiscon will be Mr Jaye Murray, whose 42 per cent stake in the company will net him £23.9 million. Mr Murray was chairman of Aldiscon but was not active in the company. He is the main shareholder of Murray Telecommunications Ltd, a telecommunications cable laying contractor which has contracts in Britain and Continental Europe and is said to have annual sales of £15 million.

Mr Gilbert Little's 16 per cent stake is worth £9.12 million. Mr Little, who used to work for Mr Murray at one time, founded the company in 1988. He began by providing telecommunications software to telecommunications customers. Mr Larry Quinn, who is now Aldiscon's chief executive has a 5 per cent stake in the company which nets him £2.85 million. A civil engineer by profession, he had worked in the oil and gas industry for some years before returning to Ireland. He became involved in the telecommunications sector in the 1980s. Mr Quinn and Mr Little both worked in Dublin Gas at one stage, which is where they met.

Mr Vincent Daly, chief executive of Ericsson, holds 8 per cent of the company. A private investor, his stake is worth £4.5 million.

Mr Joe Cunningham, Aldiscon's technical director, also has a 5 per cent stake worth £2.85 million. Mr Mehran Mirahmadi, Aldiscon's commercial director has 2 per cent stake, which is valued at £1.14 million.

ICC Venture Capital invested £5 million in Aldiscon last year, for a 14.3 per cent share of the company and now gets £6.7 million back. Mr David Fassbender, of ICC Venture Capital, said Aldiscon was one of a growing number of Irish technology companies which have developed significantly in a relatively short time. He said these companies now had the technology and an understanding of proper cash management. Forbairt, the state agency charged with developing indigenous industry, had a 8 per cent stake which is worth £4.6 million. It had bought in for £702,000. The agency is also due a further £500,000 because it matched some monies put in through ICC.

When Aldiscon was founded in 1988, the company did not have a product to market, but worked on telecommunications software. In 1991, with 25 people employed, the company decided to switch from being a services to a product provider. Digital mobile phones was an emerging technology and the company looked for a niche product area within the sector.

They wanted something which was a small enough field in which to be able to compete, but big enough to carve out a large niche market, Mr Little explained.

"Our flagship is mobile to mobile data communication," Mr Little said yesterday. The company will continue to develop technology in this sector. The company employs 240 people, of which 170 are based in offices worldwide.

The deal is being structured as follows: Logica will pay £56.9 million. A total of £51.3 million is payable immediately and, of this, £28.8 million is payable in cash with the rest through loan notes. Deferred consideration of £4.5 million is payable over a three-year period if Aldiscon meets certain targets by June 30th 1998.