SOFTWARE giant Sage faces a £100m claim from buyout group Archer Capital after it walked away from the potential acquisition of its Australian firm MYOB in August.

The Newcastle-based company had opened exclusive talks to buy MYOB from Archer Capital and HarbourVest Partners after it outbid private-equity rivals.

But the deal talks broke down and MYOB, short for Mind Your Own Business, was eventually sold to Bain Capital for about £1bn, which is believed to have been considerably less than Sage had offered.

"Sage strongly rejects the claim, which it understands to be in the region of A$130m, and will defend itself vigorously," the company said.

But the company has completed the £205m sale of its subsidiary, Sage Software Healthcare, to Vista Equity Partners.

Sage Software Healthcare offers practice management and electronic health record solutions to US physician practices. The proceeds of the sale are expected to be returned to shareholders through a share buyback programme.

"The sale of Sage Healthcare allows management in the North American region to focus on the considerable opportunities that exist within our core US customer base," said Sage chief executive Guy Berruyer.

Sage Healthcare's revenues for the six months to March 31 were £72m with EBITA of £10m.