Iress puts spotlight on acquisition

Technology group makes acquisition

By Kate Kachor
Wed 20 Jun 2007

Iress expected to pay $8.4 million for South African-based financial planning software company.

Iress Market Technology (Iress) has boosted its presence in the financial technology market with the purchased of a South African-based financial planning software company for the expected sum of $8.4 million.

Yesterday, Iress announced it had acquired South African financial planning software provider Spotlight Interactive.

"We've been talking over the past eight months in establishing what opportunities existed between us and what might come about," Iress Wealth Management Solutions general manager Andrew Walsh said.

"And obviously with the Visiplan deal occurring in March we hadn't progressed this as far as we'd like and we've been keen to finailse it [the deal] and now we have."

Walsh said the purchase of Spotlight follows on from the group's acquisition of consultancy group, PlanTech Consulting Group in September last year. PlanTech is a technology consulting company based in Australian, New Zealand and South Africa.

"When we acquired PlanTech they had a very decent client base in South Africa and our desire was to strengthen our foot print there. And we're keen for organic growth and given the opportunity we really chased it," he said.

Under the terms of the deal, Iress will fork out AUD$6.4 million, plus performance based earn-out payable over two years, expected to amount to a further AUD$2 million.

Walsh said despite now being under Iress's banner, Spotlight will as a stand alone entity and will retain its name and staff.

Spotlight has 16,000 contracted end-users representing all major institutions and independents.

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