SOFTWARE giant Sage has snapped up two Brazilian businesses as it seeks to expand in South America.

The Newcastle company - itself the subject of takeover rumours this week - is paying £10.6m for accounting, business management and tax software specialist EBS Empresa Brasileira de Sistemas Ltda. (EBS) and £3.9m for Cenize Informática Ltda, which provides accounting software for small businesses.

Sage said the acquisitions will be integrated into Folhamatic, the Brazilian company it acqired in June this year.

Sage chief executive, Guy Berruyer, said: “We are pleased to announce the acquisitions of EBS and Cenize which are in line with our strategy of expanding our footprint in Brazil.

“These businesses are high growth, with recurring revenue models and are focused on core SME accounting customers.  They are also highly complementary to Folhamatic, expanding our addressable market by geography and by segment.”