US SOFTWARE VENDOR TO TAKE YORKSHIRE-GROWN BUSINESS SOFTWARE GLOBAL

Investors back acquisition of Atlantic Global PLC

KeyedIn Solutions, the new American owners of Atlantic Global PLC, officially   took the reins after gaining the support of more than 90 per cent of the company’s shareholders in an $8 million (USD) deal.

George Klaus and Lauri Klaus, owners of international software and consulting company KeyedIn Solutions, arrived in Bradford from Minneapolis, Minnesota to celebrate the formal handover with the Atlantic Global Directors and employees.

The new owners have committed to keeping the company in Yorkshire, significantly growing the team in the UK and to a major investment programme which will see its software on sale worldwide – including in the birthplace of information technology, Silicon Valley, California.

Atlantic Global has developed world-class software that helps businesses to plan, resource and manage complex projects and enterprise transformation programs.   Customers include: Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Kingston Communications and Serco.

The acquisition is KeyedIn Solution’s first PLC purchase. “In terms of the complementary skills of both organisations, the stage that the company had reached in the business cycle and the products it’s developed, it’s a perfect fit,” said Lauri Klaus, CEO of KeyedIn Solutions.

The deal was engineered by Yorkshire-based entrepreneur, James Waterhouse, who has been appointed Managing Director of KeyedIn (UK).  Former Atlantic Global CEO Eugene Blaine will remain with the company to head up its technology operation.

 “The Atlantic Global product suite provides an essential set of tools for any business running high-capital or business-critical projects. Together with our consulting offer, we now provide a complete risk management and compliance solution that will transform the way our customers deliver successful business change,” said Waterhouse. 

Commenting on how this fits into the overall product strategy, Waterhouse added: “KeyedIn products bring a new flexibility to the enterprise software marketplace, replacing the ‘one size fits all’ approach.  We are offering agile, cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that can be implemented by a wide range of businesses — from SMBs to larger enterprises  — as and when they’re needed, quickly delivering value.“

KeyedIn Solutions Announces Formal Offer for Purchase of Atlantic Global PLC's Issued Share Capital

Following December’s announcement of its majority ownership of Datacom International, the new international software and consulting company KeyedIn Solutions this morning confirmed a formal, recommended offer for the acquisition of Atlantic Global PLC, a leading author of Professional Services Automation and Project Portfolio Management solutions, at a price of 22 pence per share.

“The team at Atlantic Global has created a world-class solution that has been adopted by some of the most successful and expanding companies around the globe,” stated Eugene Blaine, Atlantic Global’sCEO. “The synergies between what Atlantic Global needed to drive the next phase in our expansion and what the KeyedIn team offered were startling. Bringing together our world-class products and the international sales and marketing experience of the KeyedIn team made this a compelling proposition for our employees, customers and shareholders.”

Atlantic Global has been of keen interest to KeyedIn since August 2011. This $8M (USD) deal was put together by Yorkshire-based entrepreneur James Waterhouse, whose boutique consulting house, virtualdirection, has also been acquired by KeyedIn.  With 15 years’ enterprise software and consulting experience, Waterhouse saw the value in both the products that Atlantic Global had developed and a fit with the vision of the KeyedIn founders.

“It is fantastic to see what this team has achieved in the last 15 years with very limited sales and marketing resources,” said Waterhouse. “It is a privilege to be able to attract U.S. investment to a great British company and protect Yorkshire jobs during these difficult times.”

”We are quickly building a new company with new technology, new teams and certainly new passion,” said KeyedIn co-founder and Chairman of the Board George Klaus, former Chairman of the Board and the CEO of Epicor Software, where he led that company from $30M (USD) to a valuation of $980M (USD).

“Our culture is customer-centric with a basic philosophy that our priorities are customers, the team and the investor – in that order,” says Lauri Klaus, KeyedIn’s co-founder and CEO. “Put simply, we are a results-oriented business that goes the extra mile to make sure our customers get the most out of their enterprise applications.”

KeyedIn expects to quickly integrate Atlantic Global into the core business model and roll out products into new geographies and new markets. The leading-edge architecture of the product will allow easy integration and rapid localisation, allowing it to be deployed into new markets and verticals immediately. 

In the words of Lauri Klaus, “This is an extremely exciting acquisition that provides both the products and the development capability that allow us to complete our vision.  We have exciting plans for the ongoing development of the product line and are already geared up to take the products into the U.S. and mainland Europe.”

As Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Services at Epicor Software, Lauri Klaus managed more than 1,400 sales and services professionals worldwide, generating nearly $200M (USD) in annual revenue, ensuring global methodologies and standards across the company’s worldwide sales and consulting operations.

About KeyedIn Solutions:

KeyedIn Solutions, Inc. was founded by a team of technology leaders with considerable experience in developing and delivering technology applications in areas such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), professional services automation and project management. The company offers both SaaS(Software as a Service) solutions and consulting services to help mid-market organisations gain control and visibility over their resource capability and deployment, streamline workflow processes, increase operational efficiency, and achieve cost savings and improved business performance.  Learn more at http://www.keyedin.com.