News: Documetric in reverse takeover

Rotherham business process outsourcing (BPO) provider, Documetric, is set for a reverse takeover of Intelligent Environments Group plc (IE), an AIM-listed provider of online software products for the finance sector.


The deal is subject to shareholder approval and would mean that Documetric secures a controlling interest in IE and a presence on the stock market. Consideration for the acquisition is to be satisfied entirely by the issue of shares to the shareholders of Documetric.

At the same time, £4.5m was raised as part of the deal through an issue of shares. The new group, renamed Parseq, is set to join the AIM later this month with a market capitalisation of £30.6m.

The move is set to create a strong new business with significant scale and capability providing a complete end-to-end service in the growing BPO market.

It would combine IE's expertise in online and mobile banking markets with Documetric's middle and back office expertise to help them enter new markets and key geographies which may not have been possible alone.

At their Hellaby facility, Documetric processes up to 30,000 envelopes every day and utilising a range of cheque processing and scanning machines to process the payments, they process 47 million transactions a year.

It is one of the ten largest BACS Bureaux in the UK, with around a six per cent share of UK wage and salary BACS payments. For the year ended 31 December 2009, Documetric reported revenues of £10.2 million and profits before tax of £1.8 million.

Chief executive, Rami Cassis founded Documetric in 2007 through a management buy-out of the data services division of Atos Origin, a leading European IT outsourcer.

The firm's revenues have increased from £2m to £11m since it was established, and last year they secured a £2m investment from the Capital for Enterprise (CfE) fund to enable further growth.

Documetric's existing management team will remain with the enlarged group and Rami Cassis is the proposed CEO with the responsibility of overseeing the strategic direction. He will focus on driving organic growth through synergies and delivering complementary acquisitions.

Rami Cassis said: "I am delighted to make this announcement which will create a financially strong new business under the Parseq name.

"We will now have the capability to provide comprehensive technology led outsourcing solutions, which in turn will drive both our scale and our market share and drive growth in both established and new markets.

"I look forward to announcing further updates in due course."

Clive Richards, the proposed deputy non-executive Chairman of the enlarged group added: "I am delighted to announce this acquisition, subject to, inter alia, Shareholder approval, which will dramatically transform our business and create a financially strong new entity with comprehensive outsourcing solutions, scale and market presence.

"With our new, combined offering, I believe there exists a real opportunity for the Enlarged Group to drive growth within both established and new markets and to better capture the opportunities inherent in the online and mobile banking market where IE currently has a competitive technology advantage."

Documetric website
IE website

Images: documetric.com