Suitors line up to bid for Iris
Some of the UK’s biggest software houses, as well as private equity firms, are expected to line up a bid for Iris within weeks
Trade names linked with the business, which could be worth £300m, include
software businesses such as Sage, Microsoft and Infor. Sources also suggest that
private equity players such as Advent International, Apax Partners and Montagu
Private Equity could take a punt.
‘Firms such as Advent and Apax have invested in software companies before
because they like receiving recurring revenues from their customer bases,’ said
one senior industry insider.
Iris owners Hg Capital have reportedly begun a beauty parade of advisers to
help with the sale – but Iris chief executive Martin Leuw dismissed the story as
press speculation. ‘Iris has always been, and will continue to be, an
organisation with a face,’ he said. ‘Expansion will always attract attention and
this can manifest itself in speculation about the business ownership.’