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Glantus went public in London in 2021 with a valuation of £37m, but the fintech has experienced ‘an extraordinary challenging period’ since then.
Irish tech company Glantus has agreed to an acquisition worth £17.8m after suffering a period of financial difficulty.
The company is being acquired by Genesis Bidco, a newly incorporated company that is wholly-owned by Finland’s Basware. The Finnish company provides a platform for accounts payable automation and invoice processing services.
The deal is expected to conclude in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. The price of the acquisition implies an enterprise value of £29.5m. It is understood that Bidco has been incorporated in Ireland for the purposes of the acquisition deal.
Glantus is an enterprise software provider that specialises in automation and analytics for the accounts payable market. The company saw rapid growth in 2020, when its revenue grew by more than 150pc year-on-year to €8.5m.
In May 2021, Glantus went public on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The company was valued at £37m at the time. The company followed this public listing with the acquisition of Technology Insight a month later.
Glantus CEO Maurice Healy said the company has faced “an extraordinary challenging period” since this public listing, with a restructuring period last year and lender negotiations due to “low levels of cash resources”.
Healy said trading has improved this year, but Glantus still has “significant levels of debt in a higher interest rate environment”. He added that confidence with public market investors “take a significant time to rebuild”.
“Despite recent challenges, the business has significant scope to further expand its footprint, which we believe will be best achieved in the private arena where Glantus can benefit from the experience and capital of Basware as its partner, whilst maintaining the management and wider team which have driven the business forward to date,” Healy said.
Basware CEO Jason Kurtz said Glantus presents a “compelling opportunity” for the company and is part of a strategy to invest in accounts payable automation applications.
“We believe Glantus is an exceptional fit with our investment strategy in terms of size, focus and business model,” Kurtz said. “Partnering with a high-quality management team will allow us to build long-term shareholder value whilst leveraging off the core domain expertise of Glantus to create truly differentiated products and deliver unique value to customers.”
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