SOFTWARE giant Sage has bought two South American firms for more than £15m which it hopes will boost its business across the Atlantic.

The Newcastle firm has taken over EBS Empresa Brasileira de Sistemas Ltda, a provider of accounting, business management and tax software in Brazil.

It signed a deal for up to £10.6m cash, including a payment of £1.8m which is linked to the future financial performance of EBS.

EBS has about 4,000 customers, comprising around 2,300 accounting firms and roughly 1,700 other businesses. It is based in Southern Brazil, where the majority of its customers are based.

Sage said the acquisition will strengthen Sage’s market leading position in Brazil in the provision of software for e-accounting firms and extends the geographic reach of its business.

Sage has recently bought Cenize Informática for up to £3.9m. Cenize is a provider of accounting software to over 7,000 small and micro businesses in Brazil, an attractive market segment with significant growth potential.

These firms will be run by Folhamatic, the leading provider of accounting, tax and payroll and regulatory content software in Brazil, which was acquired by Sage 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.”

We are pleased to announce the acquisitions of EBS and Cenize which are in line with our strategy