Northern Ireland tech firm Singularity has been bought by London Stock Exchange-listed business automation firm Kofax for US$48.1m in cash. The move will allow the expanded company to become a major provider of cloud business process management (BPM).
Of this amount, US$30.3m was paid on closing of the transaction and US$3.3m will be paid one year from closing subject to certain indemnification terms and conditions.
Additional payments totalling up to US$14.5m may be made one and two years following closing subject to the achievement of specific annual software license revenue growth rates and certain management employment conditions.
Kofax, which began in the UK in 1985 and has headquarters in Irvine, California, is a leading provider of capture driven business process automation solutions.
“We’ve become a leader in the capture market by managing information into customers’ enterprise applications and repositories,” Kofax CEO Reynolds Bish explained.
“The acquisition of Singularity will now allow our customers to manage that information as it flows through their organisations, expanding our reach beyond capture into the BPM market and providing a uniquely differentiated product with strong competitive advantages in both markets.
“We’re excited to deliver more capabilities to our customers and welcome the Singularity management team and its employees, customers and partners to Kofax.”
Kofax’s core capture market is expected to grow from US$2.2bn in 2010 to US$2.9bn in 2013 at a 10pc compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
The business process management (BPM) market is forecasted to grow from US$2.2bn in 2010 to US$3.1bn in 2013 at a 12pc CAGR.
As a result of the acquisition of Singularity, Kofax will be the first company to offer a capture-enabled BPM platform, which will provide uniquely differentiated software product and solution offerings in both the capture and BPM markets.
The combined Kofax and Singularity products will be fully deployable “on premise” or via private clouds under a traditional perpetual licence model and via a public cloud under a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription model.
Technology that boosts business performance and agility
Singularity employs 215 people in Derry and Belfast. The company has been recognised as a “Visionary” in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant” and as a “Leader” in Forrester’s “Wave” for Dynamic Case Management. Its flagship product – TotalAgility – provides BPM software for automating the knowledge worker processes needed to effectively utilise information in enterprise applications and repositories, thereby improving business performance and agility.
“We’re excited to now be part of Kofax, a proven leader in the capture market and natural fit for Singularity,” said Padraig Canavan, founder and chief executive officer of Singularity. “Kofax’s direct sales force, large channel of value added resellers and global reach will significantly expand our access to the market. I’m very happy to continue as the senior vice-president of BPM Software Sales at Kofax and along with the Singularity team remain fully committed to our future success.”
Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster also welcomed the news.
“This is another important endorsement by a major international IT company of Northern Ireland as a centre of excellence in the development of highly innovative software, especially for information processing and storage,” said Foster.
“This strategic acquisition by Kofax establishes another US technology leader in Northern Ireland. It is a global business which has gained a series of major industry awards for its enterprise, innovation and customer services.”
