US firm Primus Knowledge Solutions has acquired one of Northern Ireland's biggest indigenous tech firms, Amacis, in an all-share transaction valued at about $10 million (€7.8 million).
The Nasdaq quoted company will issue 1.5 million of its own shares to Amacis' shareholders, which include Dublin-based venture capital firm Trinity Venture Capital to buy the company.
Amacis, founded in 1998 by technology entrepreneur Mr Tom Montgomery, develops software that improves the efficiency of electronic communications for organisations.
The Belfast-based software firm signed clients such as Yahoo, HSBC and Orange in Europe and had recently made inroads into the US marketplace.
Mr Montgomery told The Irish Times yesterday he was happy with the Primus deal because it would help Amacis grow. He owns about 5 per cent of Amacis.
He said none of Amacis's 25 staff would lose their jobs following the acquisition.
Mr Montgomery said the valuation achieved by Amacis was very good given the downturn in the market over the past three years. Some of its venture capital backers had tripled their cash, he added.
A main beneficiary of the trade sale could be Invest Northern Ireland, which last year invested £250,000 (€357,365) in Amacis.
The agency, the equivalent of Enterprise Ireland, will net its first profit from its new strategy of taking equity stakes in indigenous firms. The all-Ireland venture capital firm Enterprise Equity, which is based in Dundalk, will also get shares in Primus from the deal.
Shares in Primus were trading at $7 on the Nasdaq yesterday, valuing Amacis' shareholders stake in the firm at $10 million. Primus develops similar software to Amacis for the call centre market.
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