NORTH East law firm Sintons LLP and accountants from Tait Walker have advised on the successful sale of IT firm Datawright to a growing Berkshire-based group.

Datawright, set up in Washington in 1979 and known for its Kingfisher Enterprise resource planning system software and Snap invoice management system, is now part of Kerridge, which is backed by NVM Private Equity.

A team from accountants Tait Walker, headed by corporate finance partner Michael Smith, brokered the deal, while Adrian Dye, an associate in the commercial group at Sintons LLP, provided legal advice to Datawright.

Both firms have worked with Datawright for a number of years, including advising the team which carried out a management buy-out in 2006, led by Jim Symonds.

Smith said: “It was great to advise Jim and his team on the sale to Kerridge.

“Their new partners have great plans to introduce Datawright's manufacturing ERP system to its substantial client base, which will help the business go from strength to strength.

“The Datawright team are to be complimented for growing the business so strongly throughout the MBO period.”

Dye added: “We are delighted to have been involved with Jim and his team, from their MBO to this disposal.

“Since acting on the buy-out we have seen Datawright go from strength to strength and have built a close bond with the business and its management team through the finance, commercial and other work which we have undertaken for them.

“We are delighted to have been alongside Jim and his team as they moved from management to owners and then to sellers, and are looking forward to repeating the same route with a number of our MBO clients.”

Datawright, which employs 25 people, has clients in the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle East and China.

It will now be renamed KCS Manufacturing Solutions and integrated into the Hungerford-based group.

KCS chief executive Ian Bendelow said: “We are very pleased to have concluded this strategic acquisition.

“Both companies have known each other for many years and share a common technology platform. We will immediately set about integrating the two solutions to create a single platform under the new name of KCS Manufacturing Solutions and rebrand the product to reflect the fact that we now have a very clear product strategy.

“(They are) good people, good customers and good products and also it will be a northern office for us. ”