FD acquires Canadian software company Affinity Systems for up to £7.7m

Newry-based software company FD has bought Affinity Systems Ltd for a maximum total consideration of CAD$14.5m (£7.7m).

FD acquires Canadian software company Affinity Systems for up to £7.7m
FD acquires Canadian software company Affinity Systems for up to £7.7m
Pictured: Brian Conlon

Affinity, which is based in Ontario, Canada and employs 45 people, provides software development and consultancy services and has recently released a software solution that addresses enterprise big data challenges.

FD said the acquisition expands the company’s software and consulting services within the internet of things, particularly in industries such as utilities, healthcare and finance, and supports its strategy to penetrate additional vertical sectors using the capabilities of its Delta platform and kdb+ to capture and analyse large volumes of data, including streaming data.

Affinity was appointed a consulting, sales and training partner of Kx Systems, in which FD holds a 65pc interest, in February 2014. Since then it has engaged in a number of projects across industries using Kx’s kdb+ database.  

In the year to 30 June 2014 Affinity reported revenue of CAN$4.3m (£2.3m) and CAN$0.3m (£0.2m) earnings before tax. Net assets at 30 June 2014 were CAN$1.8m (£1.0m).

Leslie Goldsmith and Hugh Hyndman are the joint managing directors of Affinity and will remain in their current roles following the transaction. 

“Affinity differentiates itself on its deep domain knowledge and its ability to solve complex problems through the development of well-architected solutions,” said Goldsmith. “In recent years this has led us deeper into big data applications with low latency challenges. Through our relationship with Kx Systems, we have been able to create products that leverage the power of kdb+ to ingest and analyse vast quantities of data across a number of vertical sectors.” 

“With the resources of FD available to us, we expect to be able to accelerate our product development and bring it to market globally at an accelerated pace,” said Hyndman. 

Brian Conlon, chief executive officer of FD, described Affinity as a natural fit for his company. “Both the strategy of developing software products built on kdb+, one of the world’s most powerful databases, and the cultural ethos of Affinity, mirror that of FD. While we have applied our domain knowledge within capital markets, Affinity brings the company expertise across a number of new vertical sectors. We see this as an exciting opportunity for the company to grow its revenues and diversify its customer base.”

On 24 March, FD revealed that it had bought Dublin software business ActivateClients for an initial €4.75m. In February, meanwhile, it announced its acquisition of Massachusetts based marketing technology company Prelytix Inc for up to US$20m (£13m).

Grainne Rothery