Texan billionaire Ross Perot’s IT services firm Perot Systems has acquired Irish software company Original Solutions for an undisclosed sum.
Dublin and Limerick-based Original Solutions employs 90 people and reported 2007 revenues of €9m.
The company provides applications development and management services to Ireland and UK-based firms, including companies like Bank of Ireland, AIB, Vodafone, Eircom and O2.
The company specialised in server development, web applications and legacy systems re-engineering.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Perot Systems posted annual revenues of €2.6bn and has over 23,000 employees worldwide.
Original Solutions’ managing director John Collins, who will remain as the head of the company in Ireland to facilitate expansion, said the motivation behind the trade sale was to scale up the company.
“It was always our ambition to be an Irish company with an international scale. But now our European presence and our Irish and UK relationships are at the front end of a much bigger wedge,” Collins told siliconrepublic.com.
Collins established Original Solutions less than five years ago. Asked why he sold the company instead of continuing to scale the business organically, he said: “In the long term, I wouldn’t have been interested in ongoing organic market growth or even retrenchment. This acquisition not only underpins the company’s future but also creates a basis for further investment.
“Small IT services companies have the elasticity to grow and contract. We would have felt frustrated if we started to turn in on ourselves. This acquisition means we don’t just continue the growth curve but can create a new curve.”
Collins said he plans to remain with Original Solutions for the long term. “I’m committed to this as an opportunist, as well as a manager. Perot are a hidden secret we want to bring to the market,” he said.
By John Kennedy
