Express & Star

EG Solutions in a £26.3m takeover

Staffordshire back office software business EG Solutions is being bought by United States technology group Verint.

Published
EG Solutions founder and chief executive Elizabeth Gooch

A £26.3 million takeover of the company, based in Dunston, near Stafford, has been agreed between the two boards.

The offer price is 112.5p per share, representing a premium of 53 per cent. to the average EG share price of 73.5p for the six months to September 4. The closing share price on Monday was 126.5p.

EG directors Nigel Payne, George Rolls and founder Elizabeth Gooch are all backing the deal with their combined 18.3 per cent holding in the business.

All three will resign following completion of the takeover but Elizabeth Gooch, who is also the chief executive, will stay on as a consultant for at least three months to assist in the integration of the two businesses. She will be paid £22,500 a month.

Ms Gooch started the company back in 1988 and it now has operations in Netherlands, Singapore, the United States, South Africa, Switzerland, Italy, India and Norway.

Mr Payne, the non-executive chairman of EG, said: "The offer price of 112.5p per share represents a premium of 85 per cent. over the share price of the business just one year ago."

He added that it was an attractive exit price when viewed against the fundamentals of the business, against the way comparable small technology companies are currently valued by the market.

Verint managing director for customer engagement solutions for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region Nick Nonini said the acquisition would further strengthen the capabilities of Verint's customer engagement portfolio.

"The acquisition will add more capabilities, personnel and reach to our workforce optimisation suite that spans the entire enterprise from back-office departments that help shape the customer experience to front-office contact centres," he added.

New York-based Verint Systems employs around 5,000 people worldwide and is worth around US $2.5 billion. It's software is used by more than 80 per cent of US Fortune 100 companies among 10,000 organisations worldwide.