HORIZON TECHNOLOGY has accepted a €1.18 per share cash offer from US computer distributor Avnet that values the firm at €101 million.

The main beneficiary of the deal will be Cork technology entrepreneur Samir Naji and his family, whose stake is worth more than €38 million.

Focus Investments, the Davy subsidiary, owns shares worth €9 million, international fund manager Gartmore will receive €7.8 million and Quinn Direct, the insurance arm of Seán Quinn's businesses, holds stock valued at €4.7 million.

Staff hold almost 4 per cent through a share option scheme, which will see them receive some €4 million.

The company employs some 350 people in Ireland and the UK.

Avnet's offer represents a 153 per cent premium to the €0.46 Horizon shares closed at on March 12th, the day before it disclosed it had been approach with an offer.

It is likely the deal will be accepted as shareholders holding 61.35 per cent of Horizon shares have given undertakings to Avnet.

The New York Stock Exchange-quoted Avnet is one of the largest electronic and computer distributors.

It has 300 offices around the world and does business in 70 countries. In the year to the end of June 2007, it had revenues of $15.7 billion and generated a pretax profit of €586 million.

Horizon was founded by Mr Naji in 1988 as a distributor of computer hardware in the Irish market.

It has exited that business in Ireland, where it concentrates on selling IT services to large corporate and government clients.

The company grew rapidly through acquisition in recent years having purchased UK security and networking specialist Equip Technology, Irish SAP consultancy EPC and international e-learning player WBT Systems.

Some 80 per cent of the company's revenues now come from Britain, where it describes its business as the provision of "enterprise infrastructure and services".

Horizon had revenues of €288 million in 2007 and pretax earnings of €10.6 million.

It is understood the firm's executive management, including chief executive Gary Coburn, will remain with the company following the acquisition.