A financial software specialist in Bridgend has been bought in a deal worth up to £3.25m. Alito UK will be bought for Yorkshire-based Proactis for £1.5m in cash – with a further payment of £1.75m dependent on performance. Alito provides services to more than 40 local authorities. Its latest financial results show a profit of £150,000 on turnover of £1m.
All Alito's existing employees and members of the management team will now work for Proactis, including founders, Gareth Kempson and Nicholas Lloyd James.
Rod Jones, CEO of Proactis, said, 'Alito is another excellent purchase for Proactis, fulfilling all our investment criteria. It has a strong business pipeline, a stable maintenance revenue stream and a strong customer base which can be incorporated easily to the Proactis solution.
'Alito is an excellent brand and will enhance our access to the public sector.'
Finance Wales had invested in Alito and now makes an equity realisation, as do Alito's management team and individual private shareholders. The company is best known for its software application Alito Procurement, designed to help enterprises manage risks and keep procurement within budget. Alito received a £400,000 investment from Finance Wales in March 2005.
A spokesman for Finance Wales said, 'The Alito Procurement suite of products provides one of the most comprehensive solutions availablein the market today and is focused at reducing cost inherent in the procurement process for goods and services through effective management of risk and resource.
'The acquisition by Proactis will provide synergies for both companies enabling the delivery of a truly end-to-end procurement solution incorporating both strategic and operational facets of the procure-to-pay process. Proactis is a leading provider of spend-control software.'
He added, 'Proactis solutions are used in over 140 organisations in the UK in commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors.'
Gareth Kempson, managing director of Alito, said the investment from Finance Wales was key to the controlled manageable growth of the company.
'The investment from Finance Wales enabled Alito to secure the resource, skill and infrastructure required to support its effective growth and development,' he said. 'It would have been considerably more difficult without their help and support.'
Alito's shareholders were advised by Geraint Rowe and Andy Charterof Gambit Corporate Finance and Jayne Aspell of Aspell and Co.
Existing Welsh clients of Proactis include Caerphilly County Borough Council, Denbighshire County Council and Anglesey Aluminium Metal.
