Management buys €25m Client Solutions from Tech Data
IRISH IT business Client Solutions has been bought from US multinational Tech Data by its original management.
The Irish firm – valued at €25m – employs more than 150 people with offices in Cork, Dublin, Spain and Poland.
Tech Data had bought it from another multinational called Avnet. It was set up by Irishmen Shemas Eivers and Teddy McCarthy in 1994.
As part of the deal, fellow Irish software business PFH Technology Group has taken a minority stake.
Mr Eivers previously worked with PFH chairman Paul Hourican.
Client Solutions said this “represents a strong link between two of Ireland’s largest ICT service companies.”
The two Irish companies believe the deal will work because they rarely compete and complement each other’s skills in digital transformation services. Client Solutions focuses on business intelligence and analytics, digital transformation and IT service management as key planks of its offering.
Founder and chairman Shemas Eivers said the deal was “a great opportunity to grow significantly based on a solid and tenured team”.
The company is now preparing to expand at its offices in Dublin and Cork.
“The team has won many corporate awards and now wants to combine that corporate knowledge with the passion of employee ownership for the benefit of our existing loyal customer base,” Mr Eivers said, adding that he wants increase awareness of the brand alongside “re-energising the ethos and culture on which the company was founded”.
Client Solutions has historically dealt with the end customer whereas Tech Data has a more indirect approach as it seeks to build a ‘next generation IT distributor’.
According to Companies Registration Office filings, Client Solutions had after-tax profit of just under €3m in the year to the end of July 2017.
Revenue had increased 4pc on the previous year to €23.1m.
The company said it wants to “accelerate business transformation with solutions that leverage the latest technology to ensure customers gain maximum value”.