Irish tech entrepreneur earns €350m pay-day as US group UKG buys Immedis in €575m deal

Technology entrepreneur Terry Clune is in line for a near €350 million pay-day after his CluneTech group agreed to sell payroll software developer Immedis to US multinational UKG in a deal said to be worth €575 million.

A subsidiary of Mr Clune’s Kilkenny-based CluneTech group, Immedis sells software that aids companies in managing their payrolls efficiently across different countries and currencies. CluneTech confirmed on Tuesday that it was selling the business to UKG in a deal set to close within two months.

Neither side revealed the price, but the figure is said to be €575 million, a considerable lift to the €500 million at which Immedis was valued at its last fundraising round in 2021.

That price tag would value Mr Clune’s holding at about €345 million. The businessman owns more than 60 per cent of Immedis through CluneTech and shares he holds himself in the business he founded just eight years ago.

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The company’s 374 workers and the State-owned Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) are among the deal’s other beneficiaries.

Most staff will get significant bonuses after the deal goes through, while managers will benefit through share ownership.

According to a statement, the ISIF said it will gain through its investment in Scottish Equity Partners, which is in turn a shareholder in Immedis.

Mr Clune established Immedis in response to a growing need from businesses with operations in multiple countries, making it increasingly difficult to manage their payrolls across their different bases. Clients include pharmaceutical giant, Abbvie, Harvard University in the US, and ride- and taxi-hailing service Uber.

In the Republic, Immedis numbers ESB International and Dornan Engineering, both of which operate in multiple countries, among its customers.

Its systems manage payroll for customers in multiple industries operating in 150 countries and 120 different currencies.

A statement said that demand for its products has grown strongly and noted that the UKG deal reflected “an increased valuation above its last investment round”.

UKG develops software for human resources management. The US-based multinational employs 15,000 people serving 75,000 customers around the world.

It is an existing partner of Immedis and saw the Irish business as a logical “bolt-on” to its operations.

Chris Todd, UKG’s chief executive, predicted that the combination of the two would create his industry’s “most flexible and intelligent” multi-country payroll systems.

Mr Clune predicted that joining UKG would allow Immedis to expand its business and create new opportunities for its staff.

“We established Immedis to help large companies solve their global payroll problems,” he added.

Mr Clune declared that he was delighted that each worker would gain from the deal. He will no longer be involved in the business himself, but Immedis’s HQ will remain at CluneTech’s base in Kilkenny. The payroll software company has 100 workers in the Republic.

The businessman established CluneTech in 1996. The group has a reputation for developing businesses and systems dealing with practical problems that businesses face, including tax compliance, global and cross-border VAT payments, sales and payroll.

Group businesses include TransferMate, Taxback International, Sprintax and Visa First. It employs 1,600 people in 21 countries.