Trintech, the Irish high-tech company has been
sold to a US firm for the knockdown price of $93m
and its passing marks the last of the great hopes of
the 1990s for the development of a significant Irish
technology sector.
Trintech which was founded in Dublin in the 1990s
by brothers, Cyril and John McGuire, as an online
payments systems developer and has been mainly
operating from Dallas, Texas, in recent times,
announced the sale to a new company called Cerasus
II Limited formed by a fund sponsored by
Boston-based Spectrum Equity Investors.
Trintech shareholders will receive $6.60 in cash
for each Trintech ADS (American Depository
Share), representing a premium of approximately 43%
over the closing price of $4.63 on September 20,
2010, the last business day prior to the
commencement of the offer period and a premium of
approximately 61% over the average Closing Price of
$4.11 per Trintech ADS over the last 12 months prior
to the commencement of the offer period.
After the dot-com bust, the company moved into
development of financial governance, risk management
and compliance (GRC) software.
Cyril McGuire,
CEO of the Trintech Group said:
"We
are confident that the
acquisition of our business by
Spectrum Equity Investors will
deliver significant
opportunities to our customers,
partners and talented team and
will further extend our market
leading position in the
Financial Governance, Risk
Management and Compliance (GRC)
industry.
We believe the acquisition is
good for our shareholders as the
offer represents an attractive
premium relative to our trading
history and, as a full cash
offer, provides liquidity and
value for our shareholders."
McGuire himself will get about $27m.
Earlier this year, Trintech sold off its
healthcare division Concuity for $34.5m in cash.
The group reported revenues of $32.5m for the
year ended January 31st, 2010, and pretax profits of
$2.7m. In the year 2000, revenues were $18.4m and a
loss of $12.1m was reported.
Trintech went public on the September 22, 1999 on a same day dual listing on the Nasdaq National Market and
German Neuer Markt.
The stock traded at a high of
$75 ($300 before a 4 for 1 split -- see
chart above) in 2000 valuing the company at $4.5bn.
In May 2002, the four-for-one
share split was announced to avoid delisting from
the Nasdaq after its shares traded under $1 for
several weeks.
Trintech was among firms such as Iona
Technologies, Baltimore
Technologies, Parthus, Riverdeep, Datalex and
Cognotec, which gave hope in the 1990s that an
indigenous Irish high-tech sector could evolve but
all these firms have either been subsumed into
American businesses, gone bust or are operating on
respirators.
Finfacts has in the past commented that this
inconvenient record was ignored by policymakers
hell-bent on realising dreams of creating a European
Silicon Valley in Ireland and funding the fairytale
aspiration that large-scale funding of university
research would be the solution to mass unemployment.
