Romanian software producer Akela has been acquired by TechTeam, a US provider of communication and call centre services, announced officials of the two companies.
The deal is worth around 3 million euros, of which 2.45 million euros is in cash, 250,000 euros in stock in the US group and an additional 450,000 euros will be paid by TechTeam if Akela hits its financial targets in the fiscal years of 2006 and 2007.
The main stakeholder in Akela is the founder of the company, businessman Lucian Butnaru, 27.
“Shareholder structure changes will not influence Akela”s activity as a provider of value added software services and will help us focus on strategic development directions,” said Butnaru.
“Akela will add a new aspect to TechTeam”s services portfolio: namely, software development,” Mihai Popa, a business development manager with the Romanian company, told Ziarul Financiar.
“The collaboration with TechTeam started about a year ago, when we offered them a human resources software and everything went well.”
The US company opened a branch in Romania in 2004: TechTeam Global SRL, which ranks first in Eastern Europe and fifth on the continent. In the wake of this transaction, the company”s staff in Romania will go beyond 250 employees.
“We are delighted that this deal offers us the opportunity of immediately entering the market for software and outsourcing service providers,” said William F. Coyro, TechTeam chairman and executive manager.
“As the expansion process is taking place, through the recent acquisition, we will complement what we offer by diversifying outsourcing services and introducing services for the government sector, which will boost our revenues and raise our market share,” he added.
Akela was set up in 1998 as a provider of software solutions. The firm offers research, personalisation, development and implementation of a large range of products, as well as software services for the international market.
The company has offices in the United States, and its customer portfolio includes over 200 companies from Romania, Europe and the US. The company”s Romanian customers include Orange, Alcatel and LukOil; its foreign customers include France Telecom, the IATA international air transportation association and BNP Paribas.
In the first six months of the year, Akela derived net non-audited profits of around 184,000 dollars (154,000 euros), against turnover of $1.23 million (one million euros). For 2004, the firm reported revenues of $1.38 million (1.11 million euros at the average annual exchange rate) and net profits of 202,000 dollars (163,000 euros). mihai.musatoiu@zf.ro