IT services company Ergo has made its biggest acquisition to date, buying Limerick-based Asystec in a €25 million deal.
The transaction, which is subject to Competition and Consumer Protection Commission clearance, will create one of the largest privately-owned Irish IT services company in the Republic, with more than 500 IT professionals and annual revenues in excess of €150 million.
Ergo chief executive Paul McCann told The Irish Times the group intends to increase turnover to €250 million over the next three to five years, with staff numbers expected to rise to nearly 1,000.
“This is a chunky enough acquisition and is good news for everyone, including our vendors,” Mr McCann said. “It gives us greater skills and access to new clients, more breadth of services, makes us more robust and, having been around for 30 years, it will help ensure we’ll be around for at least another 30.”
Ergo, which was founded by John Purdy and Tim Sheehy in 1993, has made three previous acquisitions, having bought CDSoft, iSite and Micromail. The deal for Asystec dwarfs all of these.
Established by Les Byrne in Limerick in 2011, Asystec employs 50 people and has revenues of €40 million.
With the domestic IT services sector going through a period of rapid consolidation, Mr McCann said Ergo was open to further acquisitions.
Mr McCann, who took revenues from €41 million to €115.7 million while he was managing partner at accountancy firm Grant Thornton, said mergers and acquisitions are part of Ergo’s future growth strategy, although he stressed it wasn’t the “be all and end all”.
