Northern Irish software firm FD Technologies plc is set to be taken over by a US private equity firm in a £570m deal.
Boston-based TA Associates has agreed terms with the directors of listed FD for £24.50 in cash per share.
FD, listed in London and on the Euronext exchange headquartered in Amsterdam, provided products and consulting services to some of the world’s largest finance, technology and energy institutions.
The Newry-based group sold its First Derivative capital markets consulting business to US software company EPAM Systems Inc for an enterprise value of £230m last year, a move which it said would allow it to focus on its KX software business and provide the funding for it to become cash generative.
Earlier in 2024, its marketing technology division MRP was merged with US firm CONTENTgine – the first step of a structural reorganisation.
The offer from TA for the software business represents a 48% premium to the closing price of £16.58 per share on 21st March 2025 – the last trading day before the possible offer date.
FD says it has received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders to vote in favour of the deal representing 57% of its share allocation, with 75% needed to see the deal through.
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“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with TA which gives shareholders the opportunity to realise value in cash at an attractive premium,” said Donna Troy (pictured), chair of FD Technologies.
“The company has been successfully repositioned as a pure-play database software business and returned £120m of capital to shareholders following the sale of our First Derivative consulting business.
“KX is now strategically positioned to execute the next phase of development for the business. The board is unanimous in its belief that this transaction recognises the quality and underlying value of the business and delivers appropriate value to shareholders.”
Ashok Reddy, CEO of KX, added: “KX’s high performance data and analytics software supports fast-moving, data-intensive organizations and is foundational to the AI and analytics stacks of global enterprises. TA’s strategic and operational expertise will support our mission to accelerate product innovation and deepen our impact across high-growth, high-value verticals.”